Leave it to Sandra Oh to turn a comedy about elite academia into a must-watch.
On Wednesday, Netflix dropped the first trailer for The Chair, starring Oh as English professor Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim. In the series, Ji-Yoon is named the first chairwoman of her department at the prestigious Pembroke University — but only after a scandal involving her love interest professor Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass) sends the institution’s reputation into free fall.
“I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to be sure a woman was holding it when it explodes,” our heroine says in the trailer.
Helmed by showrunner, writer, and executive producer Amanda Peet, The Chair will follow Ji-Yoon as she navigates not only this professional PR crisis, but mothering her young daughter Ju Ju (Everly Carginilla) and taking care of her father Habi (Ji Yong Lee). Holland Taylor, Bob Balaban, and David Morse round out the cast as professors in Ji-Yoon’s department.