“Expats,” the Amazon series adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel “The Expatriates,” has found its first cast member in Ji-young Yoo.
Set against the fabric of Hong Kong, “Expats” is the story of an international community whose lives are bound together forever after a sudden family tragedy. The show was originally ordered to series at Amazon back in 2019.
Yoo will star as Mercy, described as a carefree New Yorker who becomes tangled up in the lives of the expat community in Hong Kong. Though the move to Asia was meant to be a fresh start after college, Mercy’s zero responsibility attitude to life begins to haunt her, proving what she has always believed to be true – that she was born with a curse.
Yoo will next be seen in the feature “The Sky Is Everywhere,” which will debut in theaters in 2022. Her other credits include “Girl From Nowhere” and “Moxie.” She recently starred in the East West Players production of “Man Of God” at the Union Center of the Arts. She is also a successful dancer and musician, having appeared in the Marc Jacobs Daisy fragrance campaign.
She is repped by Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty Agency and Brave Artists Management.
“Expats” will be written by Lee, Lulu Wang and Alice Bell. Wang will also serve as director, executive producer, and showrunner, while Lee will be consulting producer and Bell will be executive producer. Nicole Kidman and Per Saari of Blossom Films will also executive produce along with Theresa Park for Per Capita Productions. Amazon Studios will produce.