HBO officially orders one-hour series Crazy Rich Asians, consisting of eight episodes, set to begin production in 2027
HBO has officially ordered the one-hour series Crazy Rich Asians, with film co-writer Adele Lim serving as showrunner, writer, and executive producer, pushed forward by her company 100 Tigers. The series will consist of eight episodes, continuing the story from the 2018 film, and is set to begin production in 2027. Film director Jon M. Chu and original author Kevin Kwan will also serve as executive producers.
The 2018 film was released by Warner Bros, grossing approximately $239 million worldwide on a production budget of about $30 million, making it the first mainstream Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast since 1993's The Joy Luck Club. A sequel film has not been made in the years since. Chu went on to direct In the Heights and Wicked. This series line has been in internal development for about two years, shifting from the film's romantic comedy genre to a drama.
The pay disparity occurred in 2019. Veteran screenwriter Peter Chiarelli, known for writing The Proposal, reportedly had a starting salary for the sequel set at $800,000 to $1 million. Lim, who was writing her first feature film as a television writer, had a starting salary reported to be just over $110,000. Chiarelli proposed splitting his pay, which Lim rejected, stating that her pay should not depend on the generosity of a white writer. About five months later, the studio returned with a near-equal pay offer, which she still did not accept. She referred to this type of cultural polishing role as "soy sauce."
The new series is co-produced by HBO and Warner Bros. Television. Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Ronny Chieng will return as regular cast members, with Michelle Yeoh returning in a recurring role. Executive producers also include Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson from Color Force, Chloe Dan and Jeannine Tang from SK Global Entertainment, and Naia Cucukov Richards and Rose Lam from 100 Tigers. Chu's company is Electric Somewhere. Lim stated that the writers' room is already in operation, with the eight episodes used to expand on the characters and world from Kwan's original work.
The order came just two days after the completion of the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, with the post-merger platform operated by Skydance. Casey Bloys announced the project as co-chair of Skydance's direct-to-consumer business, having previously overseen HBO and HBO Max before the merger, which now also covers Paramount+. The combined services have approximately 200 million global subscribers.
The buyers are HBO and Warner Television, looking to revitalize idle IP, while the sellers are the original creators and cast who exited the sequel in 2019. The event is driven by the gap in the sequel film, not new box office data. Funds are flowing from the subscription platform to the eight-episode series, Lim's production company, and returning actors. 100 Tigers, Color Force, and the original cast benefit. The pressure is on the studio model that kept initial feature film writers' pay low based on old pay scales, resulting in the sequel being stalled.
Source: Public information
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Adele Lim did not leave commercial genre films after exiting the sequel. She participated in the 2021 Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon script and directed the 2023 theatrical comedy Joy Ride. The former provided her with a theatrical credit she missed in 2019, while the latter transitioned her from a hired television writer to an independent director. Before Crazy Rich Asians, Color Force had already sought Chiarelli to adapt Kwan's 2013 novel, and Lim was added later to provide cultural voice after Chu joined the project. The pay scale was based on existing theatrical rates, not reassessed based on the film's box office performance.
This time, the money path changed to the production company. The series order binds the showrunner, writer, and executive producer to 100 Tigers, with Chu serving only as executive producer through Electric Somewhere, while Kwan retains the author position but does not lead the writers' room. In 2019, the studio refused to raise her offer to Chiarelli's $800,000 to $1 million, arguing that making an exception would disrupt industry pay precedents. In 2026, the same IP will be delivered by her company, with pay disputes incorporated into the production rights of the entire season, rather than a single script fee. Skydance has just completed the merger of Warner-related assets, and HBO needs mature IP that can be announced immediately, making the seven-year gap for the sequel a perfect fit.
In contrast, Phoebe Waller-Bridge transitioned from performer-writer in Fleabag to showrunner in Killing Eve, and Ryan Coogler gained production control for sequels using an independent company after Black Panther. The industry position is no longer about selling another sequel script, but about controlling the phase: the original cast, original director, and original author are all back in her team, but the genre has shifted from theatrical romantic comedy to an eight-episode HBO drama. The window for a film sequel has closed, and the television season has become the only monetizable format left for this IP.
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. The studio's pay scale set the initial theatrical credit at $110,000, and the box office of $239 million did not automatically rewrite that figure. After Lim rejected the profit-sharing proposal, the sequel lost the cultural credit she brought, the creators dispersed, and the IP remained stagnant on the books. Seven years later, the platform needs subscription content and can only reprice based on her current status, with the price no longer being a script fee but rather the showrunner and production company credit. The mechanism is that scarce credits are harder to replace than standard quotes: soy sauce-style polishing can be hired out, but only one person can bring back the original cast and author.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Historical pricing on pay scales, control pricing is scarce
Those who refuse profit-sharing gain credit rights
The longer the gap, the more valuable the original creators become