Fans Balk at Rumored 'iPartment' Return Without Chen He, Wang Chuanjun, and Jin Shijia

"iPartment" may be coming back — without the three leads who made it matter. A rumor that a "return season" is about to be officially announced, with filming set for late September, has put Chinese social media through a wave of nostalgia and a familiar argument about whether a show can survive its original cast.

The noise started when a post shared what it called the leaked lineup, claiming an official announcement would come within the week, with cameras rolling on September 27. It was liked more than 6,900 times, and the comment section did what the show's own banter used to do: it argued. The circulating list conspicuously omitted Chen He, Wang Chuanjun, and Jin Shijia — three actors whose characters formed the show's comic core.

"The series already gave us its ending in season five," one skeptic wrote. "And if more than half the male leads are gone, what kind of return is that?" Another fan put the loss more bluntly: "Without Chen He, Wang Chuanjun, and Jin Shijia, is it even 'iPartment'?"

For anyone who didn't grow up in China: "iPartment" (爱情公寓) was a scripted sitcom set in a Shanghainese apartment building, running from 2009 through four seasons, a film, and a 2020 final season. For a generation raised on American sitcom imports, it was the domestic version of "Friends" — a shared apartment, improbable roommates, punchlines delivered at close range. The three missing stars are inseparable from its most-loved bits: Chen He's lecherous but lovable radio host, Wang Chuanjun's accented illustrator who drifted between pretension and warmth, and Jin Shijia's innocent math prodigy.

The actors, of course, long ago left the building. Wang Chuanjun rebuilt himself as a serious film actor, refusing to return for the final season; a tribute he posted nine years after co-star Kimi Qiao's death became its own moment of grief and memory. Chen He became one of China's best-paid variety-show faces. The idea that all of them would file back into the old apartment is less a rumor about production than a wish that aging fans keep making.

The joke cut deepest on Weibo, where one widely shared post pretended to reveal the real reason for a reboot: "seriously suspicious they're just warming up the audience for the iPhone 18." Below it sat a still of a woman squinting at a phone roughly the size of a briefcase, caption: "How do you use this iPhone 18?" The show, the meme suggested, was just marketing wrapping paper.

Whether an official announcement ever comes, the episode captured a generational reflex in Chinese pop culture: a sitcom from 2009 still functions as a test of what audiences are willing to accept — sequels, spin-offs, and nostalgia sold back at full price, as long as the right people are in the frame.