Paper Girls Casts Ali Wong in Pivotal Role for Amazon Series

The cast of Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming adaptation of the Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang Image Comics series Paper Girls just nabbed a major star for a huge role with TV Line reporting that comedian Ali Wong has been tapped to join the show. Like its comic book basis, the TV series tells a time travel story with previously confirmed cast members including Sofia Rosinsky (Fast Layne) as Mac, Camryn Jones (Cherish the Day) as Tiffany, Fina Strazza (A Christmas Melody) as KJ, and Riley Lai Nelet (Altered Carbon) as Erin. Wong will take on the role of the Adult Erin.

According to the outlet, “when the two Erins finally come face-to-face, they are forced to confront the gap between their childhood hopes, dreams and ambitions, and the reality of their grown-up life.” Paper Girls is being developed by Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, the studio where Vaughan already has an overall deal. Plan B’s Stephanie Folsom will act as co-showrunner alongside Halt and Catch Fire creators Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers. Production on the series will begin later this year in Chicago.

“As huge fans of what Brian and Cliff created in Paper Girls, we couldn’t be more excited by the opportunity to bring this incredible adventure to life,” said Folsom, Cantwell, and Rogers when the series was first announced. “This is a story with so much heart, and so many unique colors and dimensions — our sincere hope is not only to do justice to the source material, but to make Paper Girls unlike anything else currently on TV.”

The official description for the series reads as follows: “While out delivering papers on the morning after Halloween in 1988, become unwittingly caught in a conflict between warring factions of time-travelers, sending them on an adventure through time that will save the world. As they travel between our present, the past and the future, they encounter future versions of themselves and now must choose to embrace or reject their fate.”

A previously released character description for the younger Erin in the series calls her “A dutiful daughter, sister, and yes, newly-minted newspaper employee, Erin often feels caught between worlds. On the one hand, she’s a dual-language immigrant with deep Chinese roots, on the other, she’s an All-American kid on the verge of her teenage years who desperately wants the TV-perfect life she often sees depicted in the Western culture all around her.”

Amazon has not set as premiere window for Paper Girls on their streaming service.