The Disney+ adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese seemed destined to have eyes on it the moment it added Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan to its cast. Though the casting came before the pair co-led 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, the continued success of that movie has added some extra potency to the show, particularly after it was announced that film’s scene stealer Stephanie Hsu would also come to the show for a guest appearance.
Now the show is basically functioning as an entirely reunion for the Wang family, as James Hong will also be on the series in the role of the Jade Emperor. Disney broke the news with a teaser trailer that ends with a break down of guest stars that’ll join the series. In addition to Hong and Hsu, fellow guests include Ronny Chieng (M3GAN), Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley), Rosalie Chiang (Turning Red), and Leonard Wu (Ghost of Tsushima). According to the trailer, there’s more guest stars waiting in the wings to be announced.
In the series, high schooler Jin Wang (played by Ben Wang) is an average child of Chinese immigrants who crosses paths with his school’s newest exchange student Amelia Harris (Sydney Taylor). From there, he gets caught up in a war between the gods of Chinese mythology, and rubs shoulders with his culture’s important mythological figures like Sun Wukong (Daniel Wu) and Princess Iron Fan (Poppy Liu) from Journey to the West. Yang’s 2006 graphic novel that the show is based on won or was nominated for several literary awards, including the 2007 Best Comic of the Year award from Publishers Weekly and Time Magazine’s Top Comic for that particular year.
Also starring Chin Han and Yeo Yann Yann, and directed by Shang-Chi’s Daniel Destini Cretton, American Born Chinese is expected to release on Disney+ sometime in the spring.