Does Constance Wu want to leave Fresh Off the Boat?
Well, consider this something that we don’t see every day.
We’ve certainly seen a number of occasions in which actors want to leave a show, but rarely have we ever seen someone be upset over the idea of it coming back for another season. Constance Wu of Fresh Off the Boat may very well be a trendsetter in that regard.
In a new post on Twitter (responding to another user), Wu proclaimed that her renewal was “not” great news, which is not what many people would have probably expected her to say. On the surface, the implication here is simple — she wants out, but she’s also probably contracted to do another season. The sitcom’s airing on Friday nights and is far from a ratings machine, so it may not be the sort of thing that really brings her a whole lot of visibility at this point. Also, Wu recently starred in Crazy Rich Asians and may be looking to do more movies — gigs that are probably limited by her being on a sitcom that takes up the bulk of the year.
To a certain extent, we understand her frustration since you really only have so much time to take advantage of being at the peak of your career — but there had to be better ways to handle this, right? We certainly don’t imagine the show continuing to have her on board if she is so obviously disinterested in being there. It’s basically like an athlete demanding a trade — can you really count on them if they’re unhappy? The difference of course here is that Fresh Off the Boat is a show that could go away, and we do wonder a little bit more about its future if it loses arguably its biggest star. A sports team will still exist of they trade someone.
Maybe this is all a misunderstanding … but it doesn’t really seem that way, if we’re to take Wu’s tweet at face value. It’s possible that Fresh Off the Boat returns, does one more season without Wu, and then ends — in all honesty, we’re not sure we saw it continuing past the sixth season anyway. Shows often get so much more expensive entering a season 7 or 8 and there may have only been so much of a shelf life here, especially with it sticking around on Friday night.
Hopefully, we’ll get a little more insight on what is really going on here over the next couple of hours — with a story like this, we have a hard time thinking that ABC and/or Wu will sit on it for long. The craziest thing is that all of this drama is centered around what is, as a whole, a family comedy that has an enormous following.
Update: Wu has since clarified, suggesting that people are making “assumptions” about what she said. That might be true, but after reading her tweet (screenshotted below), it’s hard to have any other interpretation.
What do you think about Wu’s tweet, and what do you think is going to come from this? Be sure to share right now in the comments and stay tuned for more news.