American Born Chinese First Look: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu Reunite

by James · January 14, 2023

Stephanie Hsu also stars in the upcoming series based on the graphic novels by Gene Luen Yang.

The cast of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” really lives up to its name.

Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, who starred as a first-generation family in Daniels’ A24 Award-winning film, are reuniting on screen for the upcoming Disney+ series “American Born Chinese.” Based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name, “American Born Chinese” is adapted by Kelvin Yu for the streaming platform.

The series follows Jin Wang (Ben Wang), the son of Chinese immigrants who struggles to assimilate in the United States. Jin escapes into fantasy realms to deal with his feelings and encounters spiritual creatures such as Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, played by Yeoh.

“On a visceral level, I’m a superhero fan,” writer Yang told Entertainment Weekly after writing comics for both DC and Marvel. “At the heart of the superhero genre is this blend of the fantastical and the mundane. I think it really reflects the Asian-American experience in particular, and the immigrant child experience in general. Many of us feel that we live in between two different worlds. For me, when I was little, I spoke one language at home and another at school. I have one name at home and another at school. I lived under two different sets of cultural expectations.”

Ironically, the trio who starred in the generational trauma multiverse film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led the Disney+ series in a similar superhero form. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” writer-directors Daniels previously told IndieWire that they were approached by Disney to helm the Marvel series “Loki.”

“There were meetings with Marvel about ‘Loki’ that we didn’t even take,” Daniel Scheinert said at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival.

Co-director Kwan added, “We were trying to make our own multiverse movie. No, the meeting was set and we went, but when we left we said we probably weren’t going to do it. We were trying to make our own movie at the same time.. .They tried to make sci-fi Douglas Adams style [for ‘Loki’]. It was a bit scary to get these offers and say: ‘Fuck, this is what we’re working on!'”

Check out “American Born Chinese” below.