Disney+ is not proceeding with a second season of Disney Branded Television/20th Television’s action fantasy series American Born Chinese, which stars Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh.
The decision comes more than seven months after the eight-episode first season was released May 24. It also comes after the options on the cast expired yesterday, I hear. 20th Television still plans to try and shop the series elsewhere.
Created by Kelvin Yu based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel, American Born Chinese had an impeccable timing, launching on the heels of the 2023 awards season, which saw Yeoh and Quan win trophy after trophy for their movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, culminating with both of them landing Oscars in March.
Despite featuring Hollywood’s “it” duo of the moment in Yeoh and Quan and garnering strong reviews, American Born Chinese could not attract large enough audience and did not crack the weekly Nielsen Top 10 streaming rankings. Two other recent Disney Branded Television series which reached the Nielsen Top 10, Goosebumps and Season 2 of The Santa Clauses, are awaiting word on their future, along with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which just debuted as the top Disney Branded Television premiere of all time.
With the exception of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Disney Branded Television’s Disney+ series to date have run for one or two seasons.
American Born Chinese tells the story of Jin Wang (Ben Wang), an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life. When he meets a new 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 main cast of the series also includes Yeo Yann Yann as Christine Wang, Chin Han as Simon Wang, Quan as Freddy Wong, Jimmy Liu as Wei-Chen, Sydney Taylor as Amelia with Daniel Wu as Sun Wukong “The Monkey King” and Yeoh as Guanyin. Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s Stephanie Hsu was among the season’s guest stars.
Yu served as executive producer and showrunner. Destin Daniel Cretton (Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) directed the season premiere and finale and served as executive producer alongside Melvin Mar and Jake Kasdan, Erin O’Malley, Asher Goldstein and Gene Luen Yang.