"The Wandering Earth II" is scheduled for Chinese Lunar New Year in 2023. (Photo: Official Weibo account of The Wandering Earth)

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- "The Wandering Earth II," a much-anticipated prequel to China's 2019 science-fiction blockbuster "The Wandering Earth," has unveiled its first trailer, saying its release is set for Chinese Lunar New Year in 2023.

The news broke through the movie's official social media account on Weibo.

Poster of "The Wandering Earth II." (Photo: Official Weibo account of The Wandering Earth)

The new film sees Guo Fan reprise the directorial role, with the original novel's Hugo Award-winning author, Liu Cixin, taking on the executive producer title.

Wu Jing starred as the heroic Chinese taikonaut who sacrificed his life to save Earth in the original movie. He will return in the prequel for which actors Andy Lau and Li Xuejian will join the cast.

Poster for The Wandering Earth, which is now available on Netflix.

Adapted from the Chinese novel of the same name, "The Wandering Earth" is set in the future and tells of an audacious attempt to save Earth, with the sun about to expand into a red giant and devour the planet.

It is currently the all-time top-grossing sci-fi film in China, raking in around 4.69 billion yuan (about 689 million U.S. dollars), according to movie data platform Maoyan.