Last summer, Disney released a brand new live-action series called “American Born Chinese” on Disney+ around the world.  This genre-hopping action-comedy series is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Gene Luen-Yang.

“American Born Chinese” tells the story of Jin Wang, an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life. When he meets a new foreign 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.

It’s been over six months since the series was released, and according to Deadline, the series won’t be returning for a second season.  The casting options for the second season expired yesterday. However, 20th Television is trying to shop the series around to other platforms and channels.  So it’s possible another network could pick up the show; however, it’s unlikely since more studios are also cutting back on how much they are creating. 

The show stars Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, who had just come off the hugely successful film, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.    However, that extra buzz wasn’t enough to draw in a big enough audience to bring the show back for another season.

“American Born Chinese” was never able to crack the Nielsen streaming chart, nor did it trend for very long on Disney+ after its release.    Disney tried airing the first episode of the show on traditional linear television, to try to drum up viewership, but that didn’t work.

This series also stars Ben Wang (“Chang Can Dunk”), two-time International Emmy Award nominee Yeo Yann Yann (“Wet Season”), Chin Han (“Mortal Kombat”), Daniel Wu (“Reminiscence”), former Taekwondo champion Jimmy Liu and Sydney Taylor (“Just Add Magic”).

“American Born Chinese” is the latest Disney+ Original to be cancelled after just one season.  If you haven’t seen it yet or haven’t finished it, I’d suggest watching it sooner rather than later, since Disney has a bad habit of removing unsuccessful and expensive shows from its platform as part of an asset write-off.  

Bar the successful “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”, which ran for four seasons, no other Disney Branded Television series made for Disney+ has managed to get past two seasons.  It’s a shame that “American Born Chinese” never clicked with audiences, since it was a very original and interesting show, that’s certainly worth watching.

The series was created by Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Kelvin Yu (“Bob’s Burgers,” “Central Park”), who servesd as executive producer and showrunner. Destin Daniel Cretton (Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Short Term 12”) also directed and served as an executive producer on the show, alongside Melvin Mar and Jake Kasdan (both of “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “Jumanji: The Next Level”), Erin O’Malley (“Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.”), Asher Goldstein (“Short Term 12,” “Just Mercy”) and Gene Luen Yang.

You can watch the first season of “American Born Chinese” on Disney+ now.

What do you think of Disney cancelling “American Born Chinese”?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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