‘Expats’: A Transporting, Worldly Vision
WATCH: Lulu Wang — director, writer and EP of the Prime Video limited series — and co-star Sarayu Blue joined Katey Rich for The Ankler x Backstage FYC event
You can watch the whole conversation with Lulu Wang and Sarayu Blue at AnklerEnjoy, home for post Ankler Events content, as well as a wonderful photo gallery from photographer Todd Williamson.
When Nicole Kidman first approached Lulu Wang to direct a series adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel Expatriates, Wang knew one thing right away: what the fifth episode would be. “I don't know why it was fifth,” Wang admits with a laugh. “I just had a vision.”
At an event in Los Angeles on May 13, the latest in the The Ankler x Backstage Screening Series, the audience gathered to watch that fifth episode of the series Expats, an extraordinary, feature-length look at life across Hong Kong circa 2014. The entire series is a bold adaptation of Lee’s novel, which centers on three American women — Margaret (Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) — all coping with various forms of grief within a world of extreme privilege.
But Wang knew there were other stories to tell, particularly those of the migrant workers who leave their families behind in other countries to tend to the households of these wealthy expats. “We're going to immerse you in that world, in that bubble, and then we're gonna break you out of it,” Wang told The Ankler’s Katey Rich of her approach in a Q&A after the screening. “We're going to show you there's life outside of their grief. There are different types of people who all carry their own wounds. There's these people who have sacrificed, and they still somehow manage to have resilience and joy.”
That fifth episode, titled “Central,” expands its lens to showcase characters across Hong Kong, from the protesters involved in the pro-democracy Umbrella Revolution to the migrant workers who gather on their day off to swap stories and send money back home. The three main characters become more like supporting players, and as Blue said during the Q&A, it was a thrilling opportunity to explore the more dynamic — and in some ways less likeable — side of her character Hilary.
“I love playing flawed and dimensional characters, who have this much humanity to them,” says Blue. “When she takes this turn in episode five, that is . . . It's not particularly attractive, [but] it is wonderful because it tells Puri's story, which is the whole point.”
Both Wang and Blue say they learned about their own grit making the show — Blue from the resilience Hilary eventually learns, and Wang from the enormous challenge of making the series with only one feature film, 2019’s The Farewell, under her belt. “It was a lot of weight and responsibility,” says Wang, who credits the support of Kidman as a producer and of Amazon for giving her the freedom to make the exact show she envisioned. “Being able to get through it and still maintain my creative vision, to go back to early storyboards and say, ‘Wow, that's what we got onscreen.’ I'm just really proud.”
For the 76th Emmys season, Expats is in contention for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Lulu Wang is in contention for both directing and acting, and Sarayu Blue for Outstanding Supporting Actress.