After the unexpected success of her 2019 film “The Farewell,” Lulu Wang had reservations about her next move. Despite pushback from Hollywood executives to make her work more appealing to a broader audience, she resisted, creating a deeply personal film that resonated with viewers. When approached by Nicole Kidman to adapt “The Expatriates” into a series, Wang hesitated, wondering if it was the right move for her as a writer and director. Surprisingly, Kidman assured her of creative freedom and the scale of the project could be an asset, prompting Wang to accept the opportunity as a platform to tell stories about the Umbrella Movement, domestic workers, and people of color in Hong Kong.
“Expats,” a six-episode series available on Prime Video, expands the world of the show far beyond the core characters, delving into stories about race, class, power, and agency in Hong Kong. Wang felt a responsibility to capture the pro-democracy movement, given her family history, and purposefully set the series in the summer and fall of 2014 during the Umbrella Movement. She wanted to show that no one is isolated from the context of the place and time they’re living in, and how power plays out in grayer areas.
She and her team of writers, mirroring the wide range of stories they wanted to tell, challenged each other, ultimately following what they thought were the stories that were most exciting and interesting to them. Wang was determined to portray the subtleties of power dynamics and manipulation, depicting hierarchy in more insidious ways rather than the typical extreme examples. Through “Expats,” she aimed to show the contrast in power differentials, particularly between domestic workers and their employers, bringing a fresh and nuanced perspective to American television.
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