Hacks star Poppy Liu is the latest to join the cast of Disney+'s upcoming series American Born Chinese, Variety reports. The graphic novel adaptation, first announced in October, already has a prominent cast of stars stacking up to join Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton.
American Born Chinese is an adaptation of Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel of the same name. The series will follow teen Jin Wang (Ben Wang) in a mystical coming-of-age tale, as Jin struggles to balance his school social life with his immigrant home life. When he finds himself wrestling with his Chinese identity, Jin meets the new foreign exchange student, Wei-Chen (Jim Liu) and their lives are suddenly thrown for a loop when the two find themselves at the center of a war between Chinese mythological gods. Poppy Liu will make her appearance in the series as Princess Iron Fan, a character said to be enchanting and possessing magical abilities. The Disney+ series will be Liu's highest-profile role since she was cast as Kiki in the Emmy-winning HBO series Hacks. Liu is previously known for her roles in Better Call Saul, iCarly, Sunnyside and Dollface. She is set to appear in an Amazon adaptation of Dead Ringers with Rachel Weisz and AMC's The Walking Dead spinoff Tales of the Walking Dead along with Jessie T. Usher (The Boys) and Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick).
Liu joins an already star-studded cast that includes Stephanie Hsu as Shiji Niangniang, the Goddess of Stones, Ke Huy Quan as Freddy Wong and Michelle Yeoh as Guanyin, Jin Wang's aunt and the Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion. Fans will recognize all three actors from this year's reigning multiverse magnate Everything Everywhere All at Once. Also featured in American Born Chinese are Yeo Yann Yann (Havoc) as Christine Wang, Daniel Wu (Westworld) as The Monkey King and Chin Han (The Dark Knight) as Simon Wang, among others.
Production for Cretton's series began in February, and is written for screen and executive-produced by Award-winning Kelvin Yu. Other executive producers are Melvin Mar, Asher Goldstein, Jake Kasdan, Erin O’Malley, and graphic novel author Yang.
American Born Chinese has yet to announce its release date, but will be streaming on Disney+. You can check out the official synopsis below:
"American Born Chinese" tells the story of 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 show is a genre-hopping action-comedy that explores issues of identity, culture, and family."