Disney Plus has greenlit “American Born Chinese,” a series based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name.
The action-comedy follows Jin Wang, a teenager juggling his high school social life with his immigrant home life. When Jin meets a new foreign exchange student on the first day of school, their worlds collide as Jin becomes entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods. Identity, culture and family are themes throughout.
“American Born Chinese” is written and executive produced by Kelvin and Charles Yu, along with Melvin Mar, Jake Kasdan, Asher Goldstein and Yang. Destin Daniel Cretton serves as director and executive producer. “American Born Chinese” is produced by 20th Television. Mar and Kasdan were previously executive producers on the ABC comedy series “Fresh Off the Boat.” They and their Detective Agency production company are currently under an overall deal at 20th TV.
Executive producer and writer Kelvin Yu spoke about the project saying, “Gene Luen Yang’s book is a staple in American literature, and deeply important to a whole generation of readers.”
Remarked Yang, who created the graphic novel, “I feel so lucky to be working with this team. Melvin Mar is a man with a vision, and I’m deeply grateful that he took this project under his wing. Kelvin Yu is a phenomenal talent. His script brings to television everything I wanted to get across in my book.”
President of Disney Branded Television, Ayo Davis added, “The team are visionaries in bringing character-driven adventures to life, and we cannot wait for the audience to experience this fantastically memorable and imaginative adaptation of the graphic novel. This is a great universal story that moves between worlds and explores the impact of culture, identity and acceptance through the lens of adolescence.”