A new international trailer for "Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert" confirms a June 30 digital release from Well Go USA, following the film's mainland China theatrical bow on February 17, 2026.
Wu Jing returns as bounty hunter Doa Ma, hired to escort the empire's most wanted fugitive, Zhi Shi Lang (Sun Yizhou), to Chang'an, only for the pair to be hunted across the desert by rival warriors. Nicholas Tse, Chen Lijun, and Jet Li round out the cast, with veteran choreographer-turned-director Yuen Woo-ping staging the pursuit himself.
This cut sells the finished product on spectacle rather than backstory: wide desert vistas, blade-heavy skirmishes, and an ensemble roster that visibly includes Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Max Zhang, and Kara Wai alongside the leads. Trade coverage has stayed close to plot mechanics and cast billing, functioning as a release-date marker for Western audiences.
The film adapts Xu Xianzhe's manhua "Biao Ren." Production was anything but smooth: principal photography ran from July to November 2024 across Xinjiang and Beijing, then lead actress Nashi was dropped in June 2025 after allegations of college entrance exam fraud, forcing an 11-day reshoot with opera performer Chen Lijun as her replacement and pushing the budget from roughly ¥550 million to ¥850 million.
Despite the disruption, the film opened to a 94% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes in China and grossed $214.44 million domestically. That combination, a director whose choreography defined a generation of martial arts cinema, paired with a cast built from multiple eras of Hong Kong and mainland action stardom, is a reasonable basis for optimism about the fight choreography, though the trailer says little yet about pacing or character work.
