The cast roster for Disney’s upcoming streaming adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s ‘American Born Chinese’ has been released, and it’s stacked!
‘Shang-Chi’ director Daniel Destin Cretton is executive producing, ‘American Born Chinese’, for Disney+. The action-comedy series follows a young man named Jin Wang, a typical teenager dealing with all the pitfalls of high school when his life is turned upside down by Wei-Chen, a new student at school. Wei-Chen’s family has a long and illustrious history, and the two become involved in a fabled conflict between Chinese gods while still in high school.
Jin Wang will be played by Ben Wang (MacGyver) and newcomer Jim Liu is Wei-Chen. According to a Disney press release, the rest of the cast is as follows.
Michelle Yeoh stars as “Guanyin,” a modest auntie who helps her nephew Wei-Chen overcome the challenges of American high school while concealing her true identity as the all-powerful Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion.
Jin’s mother, “Christine Wang,” played by Yeo Yann Yann, is a strong-willed, opinionated woman with a keen wit who adores her family.
Chin Han plays Jin’s father, “Simon Wang,” a dedicated father and husband who is running into the “bamboo ceiling” at work.
Daniel Wu portrays Sun Wukong “The Monkey King”, the fabled, almighty god of the Chinese epic Journey to the West, who travels to our planet in quest of his son.
Ke Huy Quan plays “Freddy Wong,” a fictional character from a famous sitcom from the mid-1990s.
Sydney Taylor as “Amelia,” a nice “All-American” girl who is Jin’s classmate and crush
Later this month, the production on what’s being touted as a “genre-hopping action-comedy” will begin. Along with Cretton, who will direct the show, Emmy winner Kelvin Yu (Bob’s Burgers) will be the leading producer, and Melvin Mar and Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level) will serve as executive producers alongside Erin O’Malley (Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.), Asher Goldstein (Short Term 12), and Gene Luen Yang.
There’s no news on when the Disney+ series will premiere but we’ll find out more in the coming months, most likely at D23 Expo in August.
