Sandra Oh will be back on the small screen in the coming weeks, thanks to her leading role on Netflix’s The Chair.
The series follows Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) as she navigates her new role as the Chair of the English department at prestigious Pembroke University.
Ji-Yoon is faced with a unique set of challenges as the first woman to chair the department and as one of the few staff members of color at the university.
The older staff fear change, while new blood, like professor Yasmin McKay (Nana Mensah), agitate for it. Ji-Yoon tries to juggle her new administrative responsibilities —clashing with close co-workers who were confidants before she became the boss— with motherhood to her young daughter Ju Ju (Everly Carginilla) and caretaking for her father Habi (Ji Yong Lee).
Simultaneously she is struggling to discern if her platonic relationship with beloved English professor Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass) is becoming something more and if it even should.
When Bill is captured on video making a controversial gesture, the student body erupts into a call for accountability, and Ji-Yoon’s ride gets even wilder as work, romance, drama, and comedy collide in this layered, multi-faceted tale also starring Holland Taylor, Bob Balaban, and David Morse.
Amanda Peet is executive producer, writer and showrunner. Joining Peet as executive producers are Sandra Oh, David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bernie Caulfield and Daniel Gray Longino. Writers are Peet, along with Annie Julia Wyman, Richard E. Robbins, Jennifer Kim and Andrea Troyer.
Director of all episodes is Daniel Gray Longino.
The new trailer certainly takes a comedic approach, and with the all-star cast, we’re intrigued to see how it shakes out.
The six-part series is set to launch Friday, August 20, joining a pack third-quarter lineup at the streamer.
Check out the new clip and hit the comments with your thoughts below.
Will you be watching?
The series will air exclusively on Netflix.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.