Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh created history when they both won an Oscar for their respective roles in the critically acclaimed movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, most don’t know that during the award season last year, they both starred in the Disney Plus series American Born Chinese, based on a graphic novel of the same name.
Despite the show’s impeccable rating and critically positive reviews, unfortunately, the show has been canceled after one season. While its cancellation has been due to the lack of viewership, fans have been campaigning for the show and others like it to get a chance.
Ke Huy Quan And Michelle Yeoh Disney+ Show Canceled After A Single Season
American Born Chinese premiered back during the awards season of 2023, during the same time that Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh won their respective Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress in the Oscar-winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Despite the award buzz and an impressive cast and crew, the show American Born Chinese failed to achieve the viewership required to keep the show afloat. Produced by Disney Branded Television/ 20th Television, Deadline reports that the show was unable to reach the Nielsen Top 10 streaming charts.
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Gene Luen Yang, the show tells the story of an American teenager Jin Wang who meets a new student that turns out to be the son of a mythological Chinese God. Packed with action, comedy, and themes of family and discovery, season one of the show has an impressive 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As per Variety reports, the series has been well high on Disney’s creative series list, but the lack of viewership has seemed to lead to its inevitable end. However, 20th Television still has plans to shop it on other platforms, hoping that it will find a home elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Fans Campaign For American Born Chinese To Get Another Chance
Despite critical acclaim and impressive audience scores most shows failed to amass the required viewership and are often canceled despite their small yet loyal fan base. Yet it is a fact that sometimes shows need more than 1 season or 8 episodes to make it big (via BuzzFeed).
So while American Born Chinese has been dropped for lack of viewership, fans have been campaigning for the show and others like it to get a chance. On X, when the news of the discontinuation of the Ke Huy Quan starrer series made rounds, many commented,
“Give these shows a chance. Would they have killed evens Steven’s or boy meets world after one season if it was released on streaming.”
While some campaigned for the show, others criticized Disney and other streaming platforms for shelving critically acclaimed shows.
“Disney has cancelled more shows than the public has cancelled celebrities since MeToo.”
“The show had a slow start, but it developed into a pretty cool story. I loved the graphic novel as a kid. It’s a shame that disney failed to properly promote this.”
The fervent outcry and backlash only show the impact the show had, showing that perhaps streaming giants like Disney should not be haste in making decisions like these and ruining series and movies that contain the potential to make it big in the near future.
American Born Chinese can be streamed on Disney+.
