Jon M. Chu teases ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ TV series

Break out the celebratory Mahjong: Crazy Rich Asians is heading to television.

Max is developing a series based on the trio of novels by Kevin Kwan, with Jon M. Chu, the director of the 2018 film adaptation, and Adele Lim, the movie’s co-writer, on board. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet at the 2025 Academy Awards, Chu teased the TV adaptation.

“We needed more real estate, that was the reality,” said the filmmaker. “We developed the movie over and over and over again and we’re still working on a version of something that I won’t talk about now, but the TV landscape allowed us to use all the characters.”

The planned sequel has been stalled for quite some time, but Chu assured audiences that a second film isn’t necessarily off the table. “I don’t know if it’s in lieu of a sequel but it felt clear that every character we wanted to explore needed more room and just a movie wasn’t doing it for us,” said Chu. “We got to bring Adele back into the fold and so we’re starting this now, it’s going to be fun.”

Lim, who co-wrote the screenplay for the blockbuster feature with Peter Chiarelli, exited the sequel in 2019 due to a pay disparity. She will serve as showrunner of the series adaptation, while Chu will executive produce alongside Kwan, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson, who also produced the film.

The first film starred Constance Wu as Rachel, a native New Yorker who accompanies her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. There, she’s stunned to discover that her partner comes from a family of extreme wealth and must contend with jealous socialites, eccentric relatives, and perhaps most frightening, Nick’s disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh).

The rom-com, the first movie to feature a majority-Asian cast since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club, also starred Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Ken Jeong, Ronny Chieng, Chris Pang, Harry Shum Jr., and Nico Santos.