Monday, October 4, 2021

Disney+ Gives Series Order to Action Comedy 'American Born Chinese' Based on Graphic Novel

Disney+ has today given a series order to the original action comedy series American Born Chinese based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang.







The series follows Jin Wang, an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his immigrant 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. The series is a genre-hopping, action comedy that explores issues of identity, culture and family.

Kelvin Yu and Charles Yu developed the series, with Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) set to direct. They will executive produce with Yang, Melvin Mar, Jake Kasdan and Asher Goldstein. 20th Television will produce.

"Gene Luen Yang's book is a staple in American literature, and deeply important to a whole generation of readers," said Kelvin Yu, who will serve as showrunner. "Destin and Melvin are storytellers working at the highest level imaginable. It's all so exciting and so humbling to be a part of."

"Reading Kelvin's riveting adaptation of Gene's incredible novel had me laughing and crying and jumping out of my chair on every page," added Cretton. "I feel deeply connected to the characters in this story and the brilliant team bringing it to life. This show is going to be unlike anything we've experienced on TV, and I can't wait for the world to see what we're cooking up."