American Born Chinese (TV series)

American Born Chinese is an American fantasy action comedy television sitcom created by Kelvin Yu for Disney+. It follows tenth-grader Jin Wang (Ben Wang), who is struggling to fit in with his peers. When he is tasked with showing new exchange student Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu) around, he is unexpectedly thrust into a battle between mythical Chinese gods, including Sun Wukong (Daniel Wu) and Guanyin (Michelle Yeoh). The series is based on the 2006 graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, who drew inspiration from his own adolescent years in the 1990s, incorporating elements from Chinese folk tales and mysticism found in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.
The series consists of eight episodes and premiered on Disney+ on May 24, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Commentators referred to it as one of the best offerings on Disney+ and praised the way it moved across cultural boundaries, its action sequences, and the performances of the cast, though criticism was aimed at its different plot from the source material and inaccuracies of Chinese mythological characters. In January 2024, the series was canceled after one season due to low viewership.
American Born Chinese tells the story of teenager Jin Wang (played by Ben Wang), a son of Chinese immigrants, who for the most part is a typical high school kid. He collects manga, tries to join the soccer team, and is on a journey dealing with his own identity as he tries to figure out who he is. One day, Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu), an exchange student, arrives at Jin's school. Unlike Jin, Wei-Chen didn't grow up in America, is loud and open by nature, and doesn't exhibit Jin's self-doubt and insecurities. At times, this causes Jin to feel embarrassed being associated with Wei-Chen.
Wei-Chen is revealed to be the son of Sun Wukong (portrayed by Daniel Wu), commonly known as the Monkey King, a legendary figure in Chinese literature. Wei-Chen had a dream that the mythical Fourth Scroll can stop an uprising against Heaven. The dream also told him that an ordinary teenager is destined to aid him in his search. So Wei-Chen stole his father's magical staff and is now, disguised as a high schooler, searching for the scroll in earthly California, convinced that Jin is the ordinary teenager from his prophetic dream.
Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel entitled American Born Chinese was an adaptation of the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, and according to series creator Kelvin Yu, the characters belong in the same category as other famous Disney legends such as the characters from the Marvel universe and Disney's own princesses. Yang was influenced by his own experiences as a Chinese American teenager growing up in the 1990s' middle America between two cultures. The graphic novel became landmark literature for Asian American millennials when it was published in 2006, and Yang was approached by Hollywood for the first time in 2007. It turned out that the reason for the initial interest was a search for properties that would promote "the word China or Chinese" leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, said Yang. Throughout the years, there would be inquiries but Yang observed that "the world needed to change in order for there to be an appetite for a story about an Asian American protagonist." Then Yang met Fresh Off the Boat producer Melvin Mar who introduced him to Kelvin Yu (Bob's Burgers). Yu was aware of the difficulties of bringing the graphic novel to life onscreen but presented suggestions and ideas about how to expand the story and work with the complex plot line in a way that would speak to a new generation.
On October 4, 2021, it was reported that Disney+ had greenlit the adaptation of Yang's graphic novel and ordered it straight to series with Destin Daniel Cretton attached to direct. Yu and his brother Charles Yu were announced as writers of the series. Asian-American fashion designers Prabal Gurung and Phillip Lim joined the production in April 2022 to work alongside costume designer Joy Cretton, and in May 2022, Lucy Liu revealed on social media that she had been added as a director. Melvin Mar, Kelvin Yu, and Gene Luen Yang would go on to serve as executive producers on the series. On January 5, 2024, Disney+ canceled the series after one season.
In February 2022, it was reported that Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, Ke Huy Quan, Jim Liu, and Sydney Taylor were cast in starring roles. Stephanie Hsu joined the cast of the series in May, playing Shiji Niangniang, with Poppy Liu added in June. The recurring cast, including Hsu and Liu, was announced in February 2023.
American Born Chinese brought the cast of the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once back together, although the reunion wasn't planned. Principal photography had wrapped by the time Everything Everywhere All at Once was released and gained popularity internationally. Yeoh, who plays the Chinese deity Guanyin, had come on board after receiving a call from director Destin Cretton. Quan, who plays Freddy Wong, and producer Melvin Mar already knew each other. When Quan was offered the role, he initially passed on it due to fear, telling the creative team "that this is the type of portrayal that we do not want to see in 2023," but after conversations with the team, he learned that as the series progresses, the audience would "get to meet the actor who plays Freddy Wong and understand the struggles that he went through — and also what it means to have this type of stereotypical portrayal of Asians, and what it does to a normal kid like Jin Wang (Ben Wang)."
Principal photography began in Los Angeles on February 8, 2022, and wrapped on July 6, 2022. The majority of the exterior shots were filmed in Los Angeles County, California, with well-known landmarks such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Griffith Park, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Arboretum of Los Angeles featured in sequences. The city of Altadena also provided a backdrop for the series. Reportedly, the production used a real high school or college as base camp for scenes taking place at the fictional Sierra Mona High School.
The score for the show was composed by Wendy Wang and released on May 26, 2023. The soundtrack blends contemporary rap, catchy pop songs, and upbeat tracks that set the tone of the multi diverse and multi cultural themes of the show as it explores Jin's journey.
American Born Chinese had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 15, 2023, with the first two episodes screening at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. Cast members in attendance included Ben Wang, Daniel Wu, Chin Han and Sydney Taylor, with executive producers Kelvin Yu, Melvin Mar and Gene Luen Yang also present. The series premiered on Disney+ on May 24, 2023. In the United States the series was also scheduled to stream in Hulu, The Roku Channel and YouTube TV, and broadcast on ABC on June 24, 2023.
The show also had an early screening at the White House, hosted by Joe Biden.
On May 4, 2023, according to Jordan Williams of Screen Rant, "American Born Chinese recorded over 12.2 million attention signals online while ranking fifth on both Facebook and YouTube for the most engagement of May 2023 releases, according to Diesel Labs' data."
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10, based on 53 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Jam-packed with inventive flourishes and grounded by lovable actors, American Born Chinese musters epic elements from Chinese mythology to tell a deeply relatable coming of age story." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Susana Polo of Polygon praised the show for the way it differs from the graphic novel, saying, "American Born Chinese shows a remarkable understanding of how to keep the spirit of a story while it's retrofitted for another medium and modern audience of young viewers," described the series as "clever, modern, serious, and funny all together," while complimented the performances of the cast. Joel Keller of Decider stated, "While it took a bit of time to get our bearings with regards to what's going on in the Heavenly Realm, we still enjoyed the first episode of American Born Chinese because of the earthly part of the story, as well as the well-done action sequences." Mike Hale of The New York Times asserted that American Born Chinese was "easy to watch but just as easy not to watch," saying it "strives to charm you in ways that may work or may make you wince from their familiarity."
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave American Born Chinese an A− and described it as an "inviting blend of heartfelt coming-of-age humor and exhilarating martial-arts action." William Quant of IGN gave the series a grade of 8 out of 10, called it a "fun, bold reimagining of the American coming-of-age tale," and praised the performances of the cast. Kelly Lawler of USA Today gave the show a grade of 3 out of 4 stars, called it a "cuddly, Disneyfied version of those great supernatural teen dramas," stating, "It is the kind of show Disney Plus should really have been making all along: Too mature and expensive for Disney Channel but too family-friendly (and too expensive) for CW."
The series received criticism in Taiwan for changing the character of Wei-Chen's nationality from Taiwanese to Chinese. In Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel, Wei-Chen is from Taiwan, and actor Jimmy Liu, who portrays him in the series, is also Taiwanese.