'The Season' Cast on What They Hope Resonates in the Soapy Drama Set in Hong Kong

The Season is set in Hong Kong, with a primarily Asian cast and crew. In place of a California or East Coast country club, the drama transpires against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour in the world of Hong Kong finance and the elite boating scene. And that shift translates to new opportunities for the genre and its audience. We spoke with three of the stars of The Season about what they hope people get out of the series. Justin Chien (The Brothers Sun) plays David Ho, Jessie Mei Li (Shadow and Bone) plays Cola, and Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians) plays Andrew Fung.

TAAF: You've been a part of movies and shows that were Asian-led or had primarily Asian casts, but American audiences may still not be as accustomed to seeing Asian faces playing these multidimensional characters. How important is this representation to you?

Justin Chien: So important. When I was growing up—I grew up in Asia—what was interesting to me was that I was consuming a lot of Asian content where people did look like me, but when I was 18 and I moved here for college, I quickly realized that wasn't the case here. So when we set about to make the show, I didn't think about putting these characters in the box of “we're an Asian cast telling the Asian story.” The way I saw it was we're a group of fantastic actors trying to do our best job to tell the most emotionally resonant story, so that hopefully if we pull it off, everyone will be able to connect with it no matter where you're from. And so that was the way that I think we approached that angle and hopefully that resonated with audiences.

TAAF: Cola in some ways mirrors your own background. Did you feel a connection to the character?

Jessie Mei Li: Definitely. There were a lot of parallels between myself and Cola. When I meet other mixed Asians like myself, we talk about which parent's which, and what that says about you and your connection to your culture. I grew up in the UK in an area where there weren't many Chinese people, and I felt very disconnected from my Chinese culture, but I was still very proud of it and it was very much a part of my identity. And I think I was able to bring that to the character of Cola. It's a specific thing coming into Hong Kong, both for me as an actor and Cola as a character, and feeling, “Okay, I kind of belong here, but I kind of don't. And I'm kind of learning how things work, and part of it I know and part of it I don't.” And it's a very specific experience I think only mixed people have. So I hope that for other people who've had that experience, they can see themselves reflected in it.

TAAF: What would you say sets The Season apart from other dramas? 

Chris Pang: I think the most apparent thing is the fact that we shot it entirely in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an incredibly vibrant, textured, layered city. If you step foot into Victoria Harbor, you are depending on the day, assaulted by a variety of different smells, the sounds of the taxis, the sounds of Cantonese, of construction, and you feel that in the show. I think it provides a really interesting canvas for the audience to observe these characters as they go through their lives. On top of that, I think we've got a lovely cast of people. When you're watching the show, all these characters, they have a lot of conflict within each other and between each other. But our cast was one of the best I've ever been part of. Everyone was so loving and so genuine and professional, and hardworking, and really cared about each other. 

Jessie Mei Li: I think it's a really unique mix of being really fun and addictive, but it’s also not very cynical. And having this international cast in a Western-inspired drama—it was obviously heavily inspired by an American TV show from the 2010s, Revenge. But it's set in Hong Kong with a cast of mainly Asian diaspora, and is filmed by a Hong Kong crew. So it is very specific because it's not a Hong Kong drama, it's a drama set in Hong Kong. And it's not Western, but it's not Eastern. It's a mix of many different things, and I think people of all ages can get something out of it as well.

The Season premieres June 17 on Hulu.