‘Crazy Rich Asians’ spinoff starring Gemma Chan in development

A Crazy Rich Asians spinoff film is reportedly in the works, this time focusing on Gemma Chan’s character, Astrid Leong-Teo.

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According to a Deadline report, the film’s script is still in development. The spinoff will reportedly follow Astrid’s story arc in franchise author Kevin Kwan’s second book, China Rich Girlfriend.

The film is said to tell the story of Astrid’s relationship with Charlie Wu, played by Harry Shum Jr. In the Crazy Rich Asians novel, Astrid and Charlie were initially engaged before they split up as Astrid’s parents disapproved of him as her partner.

Throughout the course of the first film, Astrid discovers that her husband Michael – played by Pierre Png – has been having an affair and reconnects with Charlie after bumping into each other at an engagement party.

Astrid’s arc with Charlie was heavily featured in the China Rich Girlfriend novel, which also explores lead characters Rachel (Constance Wu) and Nick’s (Henry Goulding) relationship as they travel to China to look for Rachel’s birth father.

The arc is now being expanded into a full-length spinoff, allowing Crazy Rich Asians’ mainline sequel to focus primarily on Rachel and Nick. The sequel resumed production in March this year.

The upcoming spinoff is set to be produced by Jason Kim, who serves as a producer and scribe on HBO’s Barry. Kim is currently producing the film adaptation of Japanese Breakfast’s (Michelle Zauner) memoir, Crying In H Mart.

It was reported in late April that Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan has reportedly written a script for a new film that will be set in the Philippines.

“It’s like a love letter to the Philippines,” said Hollywood producer Lawrence Bender, who revealed the news at a panel with Kwan in Manila. “We’re hoping that it happens here because we really want to come and shoot this movie here.”

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