TAIPEI – Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, who was scarred by a drone while filming in December 2022, has shown his face in public for the first time since the accident.

At a press conference on Monday for his movie Bad Education, he appeared with a number of plasters on the left side of his face.

Opening up about the accident, which occurred on the set of Netflix series Agent From Above, when a drone malfunctioned and hit his face, he said: “It’s been difficult to recover my mental state, I’ll have to do it slowly. I still get scared when I see spinning things. Thankfully, I’ve been quite tired recently, so I’m able to sleep well.”

The 31-year-old, who received 20 to 30 stitches and took time off to recover, has resumed filming the fantasy series inspired by traditional Taiwanese beliefs, in which he plays a former drug addict turned medium recruited to do the bidding of a Chinese god.

It is set to be the most expensive Taiwanese production, and is produced by Singapore’s mm2 Entertainment and Taiwan’s Good Films Production.

Although he has kept out of the public eye after the accident, he has been updating fans on Instagram on his recovery.

In an Instagram Story on Tuesday, he shared a close-up of his cheek with plasters on it and, presumably referring to the scars, wrote: “Getting smaller and smaller. In the future, they won’t be visible.”

He also shared behind-the-scenes photos from the press conference for Bad Education, which marks his directorial debut.

The film, which premiered in November 2022 at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, earned him a nomination for Best New Director as well as a Best Supporting Actor win for its star Berant Zhu.

The crime mystery, about a trio of delinquents sharing their darkest secret on the night of their high school graduation, also stars Kent Tsai and Edison Song.