American Born Chinese has ended its run at Disney+ after one season. Variety reports that “according to people with knowledge of the decision,” Disney was very pleased with the creative nature of the series, but the viewership wasn’t sufficient to justify going forward with a second season of the show. Producers will shop the series to other outlets.
American Born Chinese made its Disney+ debut in May. The television show is based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name. According to its official logline, the series “chronicles the trials and tribulations of a regular American teenager whose life is forever changed when he befriends the son of a mythological god.”
‘AMERICAN BORN CHINESE’ has been cancelled by Disney+ after 1 season. pic.twitter.com/RGjygK4Ip4
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 5, 2024
The series starred Ben Wang, Michelle Yeoh, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Jimmy Liu, Ke Huy Quan, Sydney Taylor, and Daniel Wu. Critics gave the show a 94% approval rating based on 51 reviews for its first season.
As executive producer and showrunner, Kelvin Yu developed the series for television. He spoke with CBR in January 2023 about why television was the perfect medium to tell this story again.
“In some ways, this is such an important and wonderful piece of literature that you could have adapted it in 2007,” Yu said. “You could have adapted it in 2012. We are really blessed to adapt it at this moment. I think audiences are smart. Audiences want you to break their expectations. They are tuning into the things they are telling each other about.”
He continued, “When we were first developing this years ago, Disney+ didn’t even exist. Ke Huy Quan wasn’t even acting. All of these planets are kind of lining up. Shows like Fresh Off the Boat and movies like Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi are sort of greasing the rails for us to really hit the gas and do our best. Then, on top of that, I think a kid going through adolescence issues but also race issues, it might be a lot more complicated and nuanced than it was 20, 30 years ago.”
“That is to our benefit because the stories can be that [much] more interesting and exciting,” Yu added. “We don’t have to tell that same story over and over again. We can tell some new stories.”
This cancellation comes just one day after a new series starring Michelle Yeoh, The Brothers Sun, was launched on Netflix. Also recently, Quan appeared in the second season of the Marvel series Loki on Disney+.