As Netflix continues to reign as the largest streaming giant in entertainment, the exciting team ups just don’t stop. The platform has had an incredible year between Aaron Sorkin and Spike Lee’s award contending films, big action films The Old Guard and Extraction and the streamer’s connections to the comedy world are especially exciting. It has just nabbed Sandra Oh and Awkwafina for a movie that sounds iconic already.
The name is still to be determined, but Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are going to play estranged sisters brought together by one’s determination to fulfill the other’s lifelong dream to be a contestant on a game show. Oh will reportedly play a “lonely recluse” whose life will be turned upside down by her “trainwreck” sister (Awkwafina) fixed on repairing their relationship.
The Netflix comedy will be written by Workaholics’ Jen D’Angelo, who is also penning the upcoming Hocus Pocus sequel, per a report by Deadline. It is also being produced by Will Ferrell himself, along with Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Itay Reiss and Maggie Haskins. Ferrell was also a producer on Booksmart and Netflix hit Dead To Me for reference. Both, obviously hilarious.
Sandra Oh is an incredibly gifted comedy actress who has seldom been given the opportunity to shine in her own movie of the genre. Oh is best known for her role in Grey’s Anatomy and in the BBC thriller Killing Eve and she has done her share of comedy in the past, but not in a leading role. Plus both of those TV roles had some comedic beats.
Sandra Oh will be in a half-hour dramedy series called The Chair from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of Game of Thrones next. We were reminded of her sharp comedic timing when she co hosted the 2019’s Golden Globes with Andy Samberg and seriously killed it. So this next project is an exciting one.
We can already imagine it, Oh will likely be the “straight man” to Awkwafina’s wacky sister character. The young actress blew up with 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians and has since been cast in just about everything. The comedian is going to have a voice role in Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon, she just wrapped filming Marvel’s Shang-Chi with the rest of the cast and she’ll voice Scuttle in the live-action Little Mermaid film.
The buddy comedy genre is always fun, especially as a way to see how two talents bounce off each other. Oh and Awkwafina are operating off a fun premise and both have great track records of achieving some impressive chemistry with unlikely co-stars. Not to mention we just don’t see enough female-driven comedies, especially with two Asian women.
Both these actresses are extremely busy as is, but we’re excited they made room in their high-profile schedules to work together in particular. While we wait for more news about the Netflix comedy, check out what’s coming to the streaming platform in November.
