The streaming bubble has burst, and we're now seeing the industry reckon with it. Every major streamer has shifted gears, going from over-expanding and green-lighting the unlikeliest of shows and movies (all the while giving them ludicrously high budgets) to canceling project after project almost arbitrarily. Not only that, but many of these canceled titles are then removed from their original platform and made virtually inaccessible, like in the case of the "Willow" TV show.
While it is still available to watch on Disney+, the short-lived "American Born Chinese" is another series that was unceremoniously canceled by the streamer before getting a chance to find its audience. The series boast an impressive 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an even more impressive cast that includes "New Police Story" star Daniel Wu, as well as "Everything Everywhere All At Once" actor Stephanie Hsu and her Oscar-winning co-stars Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh. Still, that wasn't enough to save the show from the cancellation axe.
Adapted from Gene Luen Yang's 2006 graphic novel of the same name, "American Born Chinese" is a live-action fantasy/action series that also stars the likes of Ben Wang and Jimmy Luis. Its story centers on a teenager who's already dealing with normal high school problems when they're tasked with showing a new student around -- not knowing that the new kid is actually the son of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Before they know it, the pair find themselves inadvertently entangled in a battle of mythological gods, all the while having to also navigate the battlefield that is being a teenager.