Michelle Yeoh is heading into a busy end to the year, with a new Blade Runner series on the way and a return to Chinese-language cinema already underway.
The Oscar-winning actress discussed both projects at the Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 7, where she was named the festival’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year.
Yeoh stars in Blade Runner 2099, the upcoming Prime Video limited series set decades after the original films. She plays Olwen, a Replicant nearing the end of her life who becomes involved with a human fugitive played by Hunter Schafer.
The eight-episode series is scheduled to premiere on Nov. 25. Deadline reported that Yeoh will also join Schafer and members of the creative team at New York Comic Con ahead of the release.
For Yeoh, the role marks another move into a different type of project after years of working across Hollywood and Asian cinema. She said working with Schafer and the production team gave her the chance to explore the relationship between humans and Replicants from a new point in the franchise’s timeline.
At Busan, much of the discussion also centred on Yeoh’s return to Chinese-language filmmaking with It’s My Time.
Directed by Bai Xue, the film follows an older stroke survivor who discovers an ability to solve Rubik’s Cubes. Yeoh plays the lead character, who trains with a young Rubik’s Cube champion played by Liu Haoran.
The role required Yeoh to play considerably older than herself. She said the film appealed to her because of its focus on new possibilities later in life.
The project also represents a deliberate return to Asian cinema. Yeoh spent several years working mainly on American films and television before taking on It’s My Time. She said she had been looking for the right opportunity to reconnect with the Asian market.
Her career has increasingly moved between the two industries. She became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023. She has since continued to take on projects in both Hollywood and Asia.
Yeoh also pointed to younger filmmakers as an important part of that approach. She worked with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert on Everything Everywhere All at Once, when the pair were still relatively early in their careers. She has also worked with Roshan Sethi on the upcoming action film The Surgeon.
Rather than seeing experience as the only measure of a director, Yeoh said she values the different perspective younger filmmakers can bring to her work. She believes established directors offer lessons built from experience, while newer filmmakers can approach an actor from a different angle.
Her Busan programme reflects that range. Four of her films are being screened at the festival, including It’s My Time, Sean Baker’s short Sandiwara, the 2010 film Reign of Assassins and Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Yeoh is also using the festival appearance to look ahead. She has expressed interest in working with Korean directors including Lee Chang-dong, Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho.
After more than four decades in film, Yeoh is still moving between industries rather than choosing one over the other. Her next projects continue that pattern, with Blade Runner 2099 taking her further into Hollywood science fiction while It’s My Time brings her back to Asian cinema.
