Kim's Convenience star Simu Liu clears his stance on show's sudden cancellation

Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience's final season premiered on Netflix on June 2, 2021. The show based on the Korean Canadian Kim family premiered in 2016 and went on to become a huge hit. While the fans of the show are pleased as the new season drops online, Kim Convenience star Simu Liu has been disappointed with the makers of the show since Kim's Convenience got cancelled. He wrote a lengthy Facebook post talking about his opinion on the showrunner’s decision to end the series.

Simu Liu talks about Kim's Convenience cancelled

Simu Liu wrote, “It was always my understanding that the lead actors were the stewards of character, and would grow to have more creative insight as the show went on,” he wrote. “This was not the case on our show, which was doubly confusing because our producers were overwhelmingly white and we were a cast of Asian Canadians who had a plethora of lived experiences to draw from and offer to writers. But we were often told of the next seasons’ plans mere days before we were set to start shooting… there was deliberately not a lot of leeway given to us. Imagine my disappointment year after year knowing that Jung was just stuck at Handy and in absolutely no hurry to improve himself in any way.”

He further said that the characters never seemed to grow. He added that he can appreciate that the show is still a hit and is enjoyed by many people but he remains fixated on the missed opportunities to show Asian characters with real depth and the ability to grow and evolve. Talking about showrunner Ins Choi, Simu Liu said that he was not enough to be a champion for diverse television talent. Liu added that Choi upon leaving the series did not leave the protégé. He mentioned that a padawan learner or another Korean showrunner could have filled his shoes.

The actor wrote that he and others reached out to Choi for feedback thinking people would be naturally inclined to help. Sim said that he was wrong as he wasn’t the only one who tried. He added many of them in the Kim's Convenience cast were trained screenwriters with thoughts and ideas that only grew more with time. But those doors were never opened to us in any meaningful way. 

“Compared to shows like ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ who had ‘brand-name talent’ with American agents, but whose ratings were not as high as ours, we were making NOTHING,” Liu said. “We also never banded together and demanded more — probably because we were told to be grateful to even be there, and because we were so scared to rock the boat. Maybe also because we were too busy infighting to understand that we were deliberately being pitted against each other", he wrote. 

Sim Liu expressed disappointment for Kim's Convenience cast and said, “I’m so incredibly saddened that… we will never see Jung and Appa reuniting. That we will never watch Kim’s deal with Umma’s MS or Janet’s journey of her own self-discovery,” Liu further added, “But I am still touched by the volume and the voracity of our fans… and I still believe in what the show once stood for; a shining example of what can happen when the gates come down and minorities are given a chance to shine.”

Source: Kim's Convenience Instagram