Acclaimed filmmaker Lulu Wang is marking her grand return to the screen, five years after the success of “The Farewell.” This time, she’s steering a captivating new series, “Expats,” in collaboration with one of Hollywood’s leading talents, Nicole Kidman. Adapted from Janice Y. K. Lee’s best-selling novel “The Expatriates,” Wang lends her multifaceted cultural insights to the project, a task perfectly suited to her given her own experiences in a migration narrative.
“Expats,” a six-part limited series, is a project of significant scale, encompassing the nuanced lives of American women residing in Hong Kong during the turbulence of the 2014 Umbrella Movement and accompanying political protests. As director and an executive producer alongside Kidman, Wang weaves a complex tapestry of class, privilege, race, and gender through the characters of Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), and their entwined destinies amid profound tragedy.
A far departure from “The Farewell’s” intimate portrait of a family’s unorthodox farewell to their matriarch, “Expats” showcases Wang’s versatility in storytelling. Besides being at the helm, Wang, a classically trained pianist, also enriches the series with her musical prowess, contributing to an undoubtedly atmospheric soundtrack.
Tasked with directing Hollywood VIPs, a contrast to her prior work with up-and-coming talent, Wang reminisces about the project’s magnitude and the exhaustive, but fulfilling process: “The magnitude of the project was enormous—it’s a six-and-a-half-hour series—and we shot it like a film. I directed all the episodes, and it was essentially like making six films. It definitely took a lot of time, and then we had to figure out all our scheduling and traveling in the midst of the global pandemic,” Wang disclosed during an in-depth Zoom call.
This undertaking led Wang to re-examine her perceptions of ‘expats,’ a term often reserved for westerners living abroad temporarily, typically enjoying privileges not accessible to locals. Her insights into this transient lifestyle are informed by personal experiences—her parents emigrated from China to the U.S. when she was six years old, her mother being a cultural critic and her father a former Chinese diplomat in the Soviet Union.
One of the most striking features of “Expats” is its all-female writers’ room, which unexpectedly came together but powerfully impacted the series’ development. Wang describes the experience: “…it did lead to creating this beautiful safe space; we have a language as women around emotions and interpersonal dynamics that is a shorthand in many ways. You don’t have to justify your existence or explain why we are focusing on this instead of that.” This supportive dynamic facilitated a deeply realistic female viewpoint in storytelling, reflective of the multifaceted nature of womanhood.
The ensemble cast, featuring Kidman, Blue, Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston, brings the layered characters of “Expats” to life. Yet, there’s a lighter, more personal aspect Wang eagerly shares: her dog, Chauncey JaMarcus Wang-Jenkins (whose co-owner is Barry Jenkins, director of the Oscar-winning “Moonlight”), will be seen in a cameo. Her excitement is palpable: “Yes! We are very excited about Chauncey’s big debut! And we certainly hope it leads to more work for him,” revealing a hint of humor amid the anticipation.
“Expats” is set to make waves on Prime Video starting January 26, with two initial episodes and subsequent weekly releases. It promises to be a rich addition not only to Wang’s oeuvre but also to the landscape of series storytelling, offering a distinctive view on life as a transient foreigner and the moral complexities therein.
