Since seeing success with Shang-Chi and joining the wider Disney family via the MCU, director Destin Daniel Cretton has been setting up a few new projects, and is moving forward with action comedy series American Born Chinese for Disney+. He's also reuniting with one of the movie's stars, Michelle Yeoh, who will lead an expansive cast for the show.
Based on Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel and adapted for TV by Kelvin Yu, American Born Chinese is the story of Jin Wang (Ben Wang), an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life. When he meets a new foreign student on the first day of the school year, even more worlds collide as Jin is unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods.
Yeo Yann Yann plays Jin’s mom, Christine Wang, a strong-willed, opinionated woman with a sly wit, who loves her family deeply. Chin Han plays Jin’s father Simon, a hard-working, devoted father and husband who is bumping up against the “bamboo ceiling” at his job. Daniel Wu will be Sun Woking, "The Monkey King," legendary god who has arrived in our world to find his son. Ke Huy Quan plays Freddy Wong, a fictional character from a popular mid-1990s sitcom.
Yeoh is Guanyi, an unassuming auntie who helps her nephew Wei-Chen (Jim Liu) navigate the challenges of American high school while maintaining her secret identity as the all-powerful Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion. Finally, we have Sydney Taylor as Amelia, an all-American girl who is Jin's crush.
With Cretton directing the show, American Born Chinese kicks off shooting later this month in LA. As for Yeoh, we're anticipating her next film, multiverse action comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once, which looks bonkers.