Between her record-setting appearance as a guest host on the current season of Saturday Night Live and her hilarious turn in the Crazy Rich Asians movie, Awkwafina is getting a lot of attention these days. Which is great, because the YouTube star and rapper turned international star deserves even more chances to shine, and that’s exactly what Comedy Central is going to do. On Thursday, the cable network announced that it had ordered a self-titled 10-episode scripted series from Awkwafina.
Co-written by Awkwafina, Karey Dornetto (Portlandia) and Teresa Hsiao (Family Guy), and with a pilot episode directed by Broad City veteran Lucia Aniello, Awkwafina follows “a twenty-something living in Queens” who is “striving for a larger than life existence while living with her father and grandmother.” Film and television veteran BD Wong, who recently popped up in the Jurassic World serires, will play Awkwafina’s father. Meanwhile, Orange is the New Black regular Lori Tan Chinn will play her grandmother.
In a statement, Awkwafina said she had “been watching Comedy Central since I was old enough to hold a remote, and so many of their shows have defined who I am today.” As a result, the comic added, she is “so honored to be given their platform to tell the story of an Asian American girl against the backdrop of the city I was raised.”
Comedy Central refrained from indicating when Awkwafina would premiere, though it’s expected to air sometime next year. So too is comedian Rory Scovel‘s 8-episode series Robbie, which co-stars Beau Bridges, Sasheer Zamata, and Mary Holland.
