The limited series is directed by Lulu Wang and will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video on January 26, 2024
The trailer for Expats, the six-part Amazon Prime Video series directed by Lulu Wang—who also directed The Farewell (2019)—and starring Nicole Kidman, Brian Tee, and Sarayu Blue, was released earlier this week. The series is an adaptation of The Expatriates by Hong Kong-born American author Janice Y. K. Lee, which follows the lives of three women living in Hong Kong whose lives become intertwined.
From beautiful filmmaking to shining a spotlight on those often ignored in Hong Kong, here are the top five takeaways we have from watching the trailer.
Read more: Inside the Hong Kong luxury villa Nicole Kidman called home while filming ‘Expats’
1. Representation of domestic helpers
The Expats trailer includes a scene in which Hong Kong’s domestic workers are seen and, more importantly, heard. Undeniably the backbone supporting many families in the city, it’s important to depict this community not only as employees inside a household, but as individuals outside of their workplace, and to see them socialising with their own community and expressing their opinions. “We know everything about these people,” one woman who works as a domestic helper says in the trailer, in a scene where she and her friends are relaxing in a public space. “Things their closest friends don’t even know."
It’s good to see they have a place in this series, and hopefully it will be even more than what is shown in the trailer.