Disney+ has announced the main cast for its adaptation of American Born Chinese.
Among those joining the cast are Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann and Daniel Wu. The full cast list and official character descriptions are below:
- Michelle Yeoh will play Guanyin, "an unassuming auntie, who helps her nephew Wei-Chen navigate the challenges of American high school while maintaining her secret identity as the all-powerful Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion." Yeoh has had a long history working in Chinese martial arts films before becoming an international star. Her recent roles include Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery.
- Ben Wang will lead the series as Jin Wang, an American teenager "who is struggling to carve out exactly who he’s supposed to be socially and culturally." Wang has had television appearances in shows like MacGuyver, The Last O.G. and Search Party, as well as writing and directing a short film titled Walter and France.
- Yeo Yann Yann will play Jin's mother Christine, "a strong-willed, opinionated woman with a sly wit, who loves her family deeply." Yann Yann's prior credits include Singapore Dreaming, Ilo Ilo and Wet Season.
- Chin Han will play Jin's father Simon, "a hard-working, devoted father and husband who is bumping up against the 'bamboo ceiling' at his job." Genre fans will recognize Han as having played Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat.
- Jim Liu will play Jin's friend Wei-Chen, "a teen who has just arrived in the United States, whose sweet demeanor belies the deeper mystery of his true identity."
- Sydney Taylor will play Jin's classmate and crush Amelia, "a friendly 'All-American' girl." Taylor previously co-starred in the Amazon Prime children's series Just Add Magic: Mystery City.
- Daniel Wu will play the Monkey King Sun Wukong, "the legendary, all-powerful god of the Chinese epic Journey to the West, who enters our world in search of his son." Wu previously starred as Sonny, a character loosely based on the Monkey King, in AMC's martial arts drama Into the Badlands.
- Ke Huy Quan will play Freddy Wong, "a fictional character from a popular mid-1990s sitcom." Quan made his feature film debut as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and has since gone on to act in movies like Second Time Around and Finding 'Ohana.
Based on the 2006 graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese follows the story of Jin Wang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants struggling to fit in at his American high school. When he meets a strange foreign exchange student, Jin finds himself "unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods" in an "action-packed coming-of-age adventure" that "explores identity, culture, and family." Kelvin Yu will serve as showrunner while Destin Daniel Cretton directs the series.
Since its release, American Born Chinese has received praise for its exploration of identity, assimilation and racial struggles. It has accumulated multiple awards, including the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album and the Michael L. Printz Award, which recognizes the best in teen-focused literature. Gene Luen Yang has gone on to write other projects like Boxers and Saints (a two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion), multiple volumes of Avatar: The Last Airbender comics and the miniseries Superman Smashes the Klan.
American Born Chinese has yet to receive a premiere date.
Source: Disney+