The Brothers Sun’s Michelle Yeoh Breaks Silence on Surprising Netflix Cancellation

Michelle Yeoh is breaking her silence on the cancellation of The Brothers Sun. On Instagram on Tuesday, Yeoh wrote that she is “heartbroken” over Netflix’s cancellation of The Brothers Sun after just one season, writing that she’s struggling to understand why the series was cancelled. Yeoh starred as matriarch Eileen “Mama” Sun in the critically acclaimed series.

“Heartbroken… and finding it so hard to understand why… however I am so very proud of My Brothers Sun family and what we presented to the world. Heads held high,” she wrote.

What Is The Brothers Sun About?

In The Brothers Sun, when the head of a powerful Taiwanese triad is shot by a mysterious assassin, his eldest son, legendary killer Charles “Chairleg” Sun (Justin Chien) heads to Los Angeles to protect his mother, Eileen (Yeoh) and his naive younger brother, Bruce (Sam Song Li) — who’ve been completely sheltered from the truth of his family until now. But as Taipei’s deadliest societies and a new rising faction go head-to-head for dominance — Charles, Bruce, and their mother must heal the wounds caused by their separation and figure out what brotherhood and family truly mean before one of their countless enemies kills them all.

The series was created by Byron Wu and Brad Falchuk and also starred Joon Lee, Highdee Kuan, Alice Hewkin, Jenny Yang, Johnny Kou, Jon Xue Zhang, Zhan Wang, Madison Hu, Rodney To, and Ron Yuan.

Why Was The Brothers Sun Cancelled?

According to reports, despite The Brothers Sun being met with critical acclaim and spending five weeks in Netflix’s English-language Top 10, the series only performed “modestly” by Netflix’s standards. Series creator Wu had previously revealed that there were aspirations for a second season of The Brothers Sun, though he also hinted at the time that it would be dependent on Netflix’s viewership metrics.

“Listen, we’d love to do Season 2. Let’s hope we get those Netflix numbers going. And for me, I’m just hoping we get season two. This is my first, well I don’t know, show. I think my only credit on IMDB is like an AFI short film.”

Another Michelle Yeoh-starring Series Was Cancelled Earlier This Year

Unfortunately, The Brothers Sun isn’t the only series starring Academy Award winner Yeoh to be cancelled this year. Back in January, Disney+ announced that American Born Chinese had been cancelled after just one season. American Born Chinese, which was based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel of the same name, also starred Key Huy Quan, Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, Jimmy Ku, and Sydney Taylor. The series was directed and executive produced by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton. The series was created by Kelvin Yu and told the story of a regular American teenager whose life is forever changed when he befriends the son of a mythological god.

Are you disappointed that The Brothers Sun was cancelled after one season? What do you think about Yeoh’s post? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!