It was announced yesterday that the Crazy Rich Asians sequel has been greenlit as a series on HBO. The film came out in 2018, becoming the highest-grossing rom-com of its decade, opening at #1 at the box office with around $30 million domestically, and ending up at almost $250 million globally after its theatrical run, which was that much more remarkable because it was also the first Hollywood movie in over two decades with a predominantly East Asian cast.

The frustration, then, at the time was why it was taking so long to make the sequel. One of the biggest reasons was because Peter Chiarelli, who co-wrote the script with Adele Lim, was offered SO MUCH MORE money than she was for the sequel – almost a million dollars to her $110,000. A few months later the studio eventually presented her with parity pay but she was so turned off by then she still walked away.

And now?

Eight years later, she’s the showrunner and executive producer through her production company 100 Tigers. If ever there was a time to say it… “BOK BOK BITCH!”

Crazy Rich Asians, the series, will go into production in 2027, but this project has been in the works for a while, almost two years, at least. Just this past summer, I asked Constance Wu about it when she came by the ETALK studio, and she told me that Adele “has written a lot of scripts…there’s a whole storyline” so they’re well on their way, a lot of work has already been done – it just hadn’t been greenlit yet. And now here we are…Crazy Rich Asians is the “first series order since the completed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery” and as Sarah said to me over email last night, “you will never convince me it's not just coincidental timing that benefits Ellison and nothing HE did, specifically”. We will never be crediting David Ellison for this. But the timing IS interesting.

Some people are bothered that this isn’t a film, that the Crazy Rich Asians sequel deserves to be played on the biggest screens, just like its predecessor. There is something full-circle happening here though. When Kevin Kwan was negotiating the adaptation rights for the first book, Netflix pulled up with a bank, basically offering the sun, the moon, and the stars. This was back in 2016, when Netflix was splashing around so much money, more liberally than they are now in comparison. Kevin Kwan and Jon M Chu decided to pass on it and took the deal with Warner Bros instead so that they could ensure East Asian representation at the cinema, this meant more to them than the money.

Ten years later, and just yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter published a piece on diversity in television. As we saw at the Emmys recently, “TV’s So White Again”, inclusive storytelling is being seen as “optional”. While people were processing that report, Adele Lim and the Crazy Rich Asians team made big headlines with the news about the HBO series. CRA is coming to the small screen at a time when the small screen is as white as it’s been in a long time – not unlike what happened in 2018 with the movie.

There’s another layer of interesting timing here too, and it’s bigger than entertainment, it might be reflective of culture in general, perhaps even geopolitics. Chinamaxxing has been a major trend for over a year, going full mainstream at the beginning of this year. I read a fascinating article last week at Sinica about the relationship between Chinamaxxing, or the Gen Z obsession with Chinese culture, and Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Washington. My description is an oversimplification of a much more nuanced discussion about American Chinese relations, but as Kaiser Y Kuo writes in the piece:

“Yes, a lot of this is silly internet memes. But I’ve often noticed that cultural detritus — silly internet memes — will often register mood shifts before formal discourse does.”

I can’t say for sure whether or not Chinamaxxing was a factor in HBO’s decision to greenlight the series but if they’re doing their jobs, they would have been aware of the increasing interest in China and East Asian culture overall and the cultural exchange that was happening in particular during the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) migration in January 2025, however brief it was.

Posts featuring westerners experiencing China have exploded on Instagram and TikTok since then, with younger Americans especially reckoning with the fact that the idea of China in their minds that was shaped by western media was radically different from the actual China they were seeing in front of them.

This is the audience that HBO is hoping to attract with the new Crazy Rich Asians series along with, of course, fans of the book and the original movie, in line with Warner Bros’ previous intention to expand aggressively in Asia. Of course those plans were in place before the merger but if there’s one goal that will likely remain the same pre and post merger, it’s subscriber growth. This is why so many platforms now have an Asia Pacific strategy.

If the Crazy Rich Asians series follows the story in the second book, China Rich Girlfriend, much of it takes place in the East – Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore. That’s another thing: what kind of a production budget are we looking at?! These are crazy rich people who live in luxury all over the world!

Plus…there are some casting questions. So far the three big names from the original have been confirmed to return: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh in a recurring role. Ronny Chieng is also back as Eddie Cheng, the obnoxious cousin who played for comic relief in the first movie but who becomes more essential to the plot in the second and third books.

But what about Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr as Astrid and Charlie? They’re the second couple of the CRA franchise and we haven’t heard about their status in the series yet. Same goes for Awkwafina and Peik Lin, Rachel’s best friend. If they could have, they would have included all of those actors in the announcement so it’s either that their deals are being negotiated or there’s a story focus shift or there are scheduling issues…or? Maybe they’re staggering announcements in stages to maximise publicity and interest, getting three or four stories out of it instead of loading it all up in one go.

Also, Kitty Pong has a much bigger role in the second and third books – Fiona Xie played her in the first movie and I’m curious to see what they do with this character and this part as Kitty becomes more prominent in the narrative. To say nothing of the new characters that will be introduced and influence the plot. Like Carlton Bao, Rachel’s half-brother. I have a casting suggestion: Daniel Zhou Keyu, Chinese actor and singer who’s had a breakout year in a C-drama called Never-Ending Summer. He was born in the United States, speaks perfect English, and has the perfect kid brother aura for the role.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, Constance Wu said that Adele Lim’s already written a bunch of scripts. They’re saying production in 2027 but not exactly when in 2027. With the weather in the East, though, I’m assuming they’d prefer to start in Asia in the spring or fall, not the summer when it can get too hot, and do other locations through the summer and fall? If that’s the case, and this is purely speculative, perhaps they’ll roll out more definitive casting announcements in blocks over the next six months. It would be amazing though if they could get a group shot together to celebrate Lunar New Year. If I’m the marketing team, I’m putting this on the calendar.

Here is Constance Wu at the Carnegie Hall Opening Night Gala last night in Dublin, Ohio.

Constance Wu at the at the Carnegie Hall Opening Night Gala in Dublin, Ohio with Caleb Lane, Prabal Gurung, Aaron Royce, Doris Wong, October 8, 2026

Photo credits: Jason Crowley/BFA.com/Shutterstock

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