Fresh Off The Boat is coming back to ABC this fall and Constance Wu will still be a star on the series when it makes its return. This might seem a bit surprising given the Crazy Rich Asians actress’ comments on social media earlier this year, but everyone involved seems ready to move forward and move on.
According to ABC President Karey Burke, who spoke candidly at ABC’s Summer TCA Press Tour Presentation, the network head said everyone has been taking the actress at her word following her outburst and subsequent apology. She noted:
We have ongoing conversations with the producers of Fresh Off the Boat, and it was made clear to us very early on that everyone took Constance at her word, and we took her at her word that she was apologetic for what she had said, and I have heard nothing about anything other than enthusiasm for everybody to get back to work.
Clearly, Karey Burke isn’t involved with the day-to-day on Fresh Off The Boat, but if the comments CinemaBlend heard at TCA this week are any indication, people have been willing to let bygones be bygones after the incident earlier this spring.
Following the success of Wu’s big screen project Crazy Rich Asians, it seemed clear the actress was getting excited about trying other new things when her ABC project Fresh Off The Boat was renewed. The move by ABC to renew was a surprise to Constance Wu at the time and she took to social media to seemingly express her frustration about ABC’s renewal, noting.
So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. Fuck.
Constance Wu later deleted the post and took to social media to sort of apologize but more to clarify her intentions in regards to the above comment. At the time, she said she was not unhappy that Fresh Off The Boat had been renewed for Season 6, but that the move by the Disney-owned network had been a surprise to her and that she had already started to commit to a project she was really excited about, thus the post mentioned above.
She also said on social media around the time of the initially tweet:
Today’s tweets were on the heels of rough day & were ill timed w/the news of the show. [Please] know, I’m so grateful for FOTB renewal. I love the cast & crew. I’m proud to be a part of it. For all the fans support, thank [you] & for all who support my casual use of the word fuck-thank [you] too.
Karey Burke says the show, its cast and crew are all moving on and moving forward into Season 6 and mentioned there’s nothing “other than enthusiasm” for heading back to work.
On the bright side, Constance Wu is becoming a bigger name in Hollywood thanks to her success in CRA, and still working on Fresh Off The Boat as it continues its run shouldn’t diminish that. Melissa McCarthy, for example, stuck around on TV while she went to star in movies. As Crazy Rich Asians 2, China Rich Girlfriend, has already been greenlighted (albeit we may not get it for a while), Constance Wu’s future on the big screen is still very bright.
This should theoretically be one of those situations where you can have your cake and eat it too, although undoubtedly there will be scheduling conflicts sometimes while working in both mediums.
You can catch the Fresh Off The Boat cast all back in action when the ABC comedy returns to the schedule on Friday, September 27 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
