Until now, Max’s Gremlins cartoon was the only production with a mostly Asian cast to NOT have Simu Liu listed as part of that cast. Until today. During SDCC it was announced that he would be playing an important character in Season 2. Liu is inevitable!
The Gremlins cartoon, which bore the subtitle Secrets of the Mogwai in its first season, takes place decades before the first movie and follows Mr. Wing, here just a kid in 1920s Shanghai, as he meets Gizmo the Mogwai for the first time and learns the basic rules through trial and error. The series will be subtitled The Wild Batch in Season 2 and continue from where things left off, with Sam Wing and Gizmo headed to a new continent.
Liu’s character, Chang, is described as “a handsome, impossibly charming bootlegger” and the son of one of SF Chinatown’s most powerful families. That influence, however, didn’t stop the law from catching up to him, and when our heroes meet him, he’s just spent some time in jail. Chang escaped Alcatraz to find his parents now believe he’s dead. He joins Wing and Gizmo on a journey back to San Fran to prove he still lives and in the meantime, acts as their guide to American culture.
Two more actors were also announced for the cast of Season 2 this weekend: John Glover and Michael Paul Chan. Chan made a brief appearance in The Goonies as Data’s father; the producers did not mention who he’s playing this time (what if he IS Data’s father and Chunk wasn’t lying when he told the cops he encountered Gremlins — HMM, just think).
Glover, as any Gremlins fan knows, played the eccentric tycoon Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2. This series takes place before the man was ever born, but it was implied at the panel that the man he’s playing here “has Clamp connections.” Also, Will Forte is in this season, presumably playing another egotistical dope.
Gremlins: The Wild Batch stars Ming-Na Wen, James Hong, BD Wong, Izaac Wang, AJ LoCascio, Gabrielle Nevaeh, George Takei and now Simu Liu. The season will launch October 3 on Max.
