Hulu's Boat-Bound Drama 'The Season' Premieres June 17
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- Hulu's 'The Season' premieres June 17 with all six episodes at once, a drama about Hong Kong's sailing elite produced by PCCW Media and SK Global (the company behind 'Crazy Rich Asians'), created and showrun by Yalun Tu with Chilean director Marialy Rivas as lead.
- The 50-day production was shot almost entirely on real Hong Kong locations and at sea, with no trailers on the boats — Stephens reportedly meditated on deck to a sitar soundtrack, photographed by castmates.
- Toby Stephens plays patriarch Christopher Hext, framing the character as a man whose wealth-and-power performance masks 'all terrified' humanity underneath, pushing back against one-dimensional 'evil rich' archetypes.
- Chris Pang plays Andrew Fung, written to be 'unabashedly and unapologetically an asshole' — Pang said director Marialy Rivas pushed him past his own comfort zone, regularly generating takes too wild to use.
- Karina Lam and Jessie Mei Li both struggled with language — Lam found Cantonese expression resists English translation, while Mei Li's American accent kept slipping under the influence of an Australian, British, Chilean and Hispanic crew.
- All four cast members independently framed Hong Kong itself as a character, with Mei Li saying 'this show is about Hong Kong in so many ways' and Stephens adding it 'could only take place in Hong Kong.'
- International distribution is handled by Fremantle, with the series also streaming on Viu across Asia, the Middle East and South Africa, and Now TV in Hong Kong.
Why it matters: The all-at-once June 17 Hulu drop delivers a single-sitting prestige drama built on an unusual 50-day-at-sea production with no trailers, while four lead actors independently arguing 'Hong Kong is a character' positions the show as a location-driven statement piece on SK Global's global slate.
