Stephanie Hsu, star of Everything Everywhere All at Once, is joining Michelle Yeoh and Lucy Liu for a guest-starring role in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, Variety reports.
Playbill explains that American Born Chinese is an upcoming action-comedy series based on Gene Luen Yang’s popular graphic novel. In the series, teenager Jin Wang struggles to balance his high school social life with the pressures of home and his immigrant family. On the first day of school, he meets a new foreign student, Wei-Chen, and “their worlds collide” as Jin becomes entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods, according to Variety. Main themes will include identity, culture, and family.
Stephanie Hsu will play the part of Shiji Niangniang, Goddess of Stones. The character works in a jewelry store and has a magical dog.
The role will reunite Hsu with her Everything Everywhere All at Once costars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. As revealed in a Disney press release, Yeoh will play Guanyin, Wei-Chen’s aunt, who helps him navigate American high school while maintaining her secret identity as the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion. Quan will play Freddy Wong, a fictional character from a popular mid-1900’s sitcom, reports Gizmodo.
Additionally, famed actress Lucy Liu announced in an Instagram post that she will be directing American Born Chinese.
“So proud to be in the American Born Chinese family, directing and working alongside fabulously creative, talented friends from our AAPI community,” she wrote.
As reported by Collider, Destin Daniel Cretton is another director and executive producer. He previously worked on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
In addition to acting in the critically-acclaimed hit film Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hsu had previous roles in Hulu’s The Path and MTV’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, and Girl Code.
Disney greenlit the adaptation of Yang’s graphic novel in October 2021 and announced most of the cast in February, before Hsu. There is no sign yet on when the show will premiere, but with such an influential, noteworthy cast, it is sure to generate some buzz.
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