Michelle Yeoh joins the cast of the upcoming Disney+ series, American Born Chinese. Announced back in October, Yeoh will be reuniting with Destin Daniel Cretton, who recently directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which featured Yeoh in a prominent role.
American Born Chinese is based on the 2006 graphic novel by author Gene Luen Yang. The story follows a young teenager named Jin Wang (Ben Wang), who finds himself amid an epic battle between Chinese mythological gods while also trying to get through his first week of school. Yeoh will play Guanyin, Jin’s aunt who helps her nephew get through school while also hiding her identity as the all-powerful Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion.
Similarly, Yeoh recently appeared as Shang-Chi’s (Simu Liu) aunt and helped the hero discover his true potential. In addition to American Born Chinese, Yeoh will also be starring in James Cameron’s sequel to Avatar and Minions: The Rise of Gru. She is also involved in two Netflix projects: The School for Good and Evil and The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Along with Michelle Yeoh and Wang, the American Born Chinese cast includes Hong Kong Film Awards nominee Daniel Wu, who will play another all-powerful God who is searching for his son, known as the Monkey King. This character is a Taoist deity who mastered all forms of heavenly disciplines but has spent the last several hundred years buried under a mountain. The cast is rounded out by Ke Huy Quan as Freddie Wong, a popular character from a fictional in-universe sitcom; Sydney Taylor as Amelia, Jin’s school crush, and Jim Liu as Wei Chen, Jin’s friend who has a mystery of his own.
Production on American Born Chinese will reportedly begin later this month; however, there is still no release date as of yet. Cretton will not only direct but will also be an executive producer along with Kelvin Yu.