Ready for a wild ride? The Season stars Jessie Mei Li and Chris Pang break down their complex characters and filming in gorgeous Hong Kong.
The television landscape is about to get a whole lot more chaotic, brilliant, and completely unhinged with the arrival of The Season. Set against the vibrant, high-stakes backdrop of Hong Kong, this series is a fast-paced, addictive thrill ride that seamlessly blends high-society opulence with raw vulnerability and shocking twists. From the very first episode, viewers are thrown into a whirlwind where nothing is quite as it seems, and every single character is harboring a juicy secret.
Mama’s Geeky sat down with stars Jessie Mei Li and Chris Pang to talk about their experiences bringing this wild ride to life. The duo opened up about what drew them to the project, the grueling yet rewarding reality of filming on location in Hong Kong, and the delicate balance of playing beautifully flawed, contentious characters that audiences will absolutely love to hate.
Jessie Mei Li and Chris Pang on the Chaos and Chemistry of The Season
Mama’s Geeky: Right from the first episode, I was like, what is going on? What was it like for you reading through the scripts?
Jessie Mei Li: Oh my god, I was so… because it came through to my agents. I got the first three episodes sent to me with the audition and I just rattled through them. I was like, I must know more. It was so addictive. I loved the writing. It was witty. There was so much like planting and payoff and I loved all the characters. My dad and my friends, all of them just wanted to binge it, you know, just like more, more, more!
Chris Pang: Honestly, it was like that. That’s why I signed on to do it. Usually reading a script is quite tedious… unless the script is good. And these scripts were page-turners for me. Like, I just breezed through them. And I was like, if I’m breezing through the script, I think people will probably breeze through the series and people might like it.
Mama’s Geeky: What was it like filming on location in Hong Kong?
Jessie Mei Li: It was such an amazing experience. Hong Kongers work so hard. Like, I was endlessly impressed with our crew who deserve all of the flowers and all of the applause. Working so hard under grueling conditions… We did six-day weeks, which I hadn’t actually done before on a project. There’s such strict time constraints… and there’s no space in Hong Kong. You don’t have your trailer. You just crack on with everyone in the room. I’m terrified of heights, I’m terrified of water, I don’t like boats… so all the things that could possibly stress me out were there, but I laughed my way through it because of the amazing people.
Chris Pang: Hong Kong’s real special to me because growing up in Australia, I didn’t really see myself represented on screen too much. I turned to Hong Kong cinema as a kid to deal with finding, figuring out my identity and who I was and being proud of my culture. It is such a romantic city. It photographs like no other city… there’s this beautiful duality of East meets West. We were able to film at the Hong Kong Jockey Club at Sha Tin Racecourse. No one has ever been able to film that before!
Mama’s Geeky: One of the things I love so much about this show is the duality of these characters. You love them, but they can be terrible. What was it like stepping into these roles?
Jessie Mei Li: What’s really interesting is the thing that I love about Cola is she’s actually quite contentious. I think she’s very unlikable in many ways. She does some really bad stuff and she’s self-serving. She is so hell-bent on achieving her goal that she will F up everything for other people. But it was also very important that we still could identify with her or empathize with her, or at least be impressed by her. That Cola got to be this kind of complicated, kind of unlikable, self-serving character was something that I don’t often get these auditions through for.
Chris Pang: [Andrew] is the epitome of that for me. When I read him, I was so happy that I was being brought in to play Andrew because he’s my favorite character on the page. He is just so despicable, but unabashedly, unapologetically himself. He’s just like, “I’m a dick and I don’t care.” He’s got no filter, which makes him real fun to play because he gets to say all the things that we think and we’re not allowed to say. Our first conversation was: how do we make this guy despicable, say all these abrasive things, but we love him because he’s charismatic?
Mama’s Geeky: Years down the road, when you look back at your time on The Season, what will you remember most?
Chris Pang: Going to sound cliche, but it’s the friendships. You can see it on the screen how much fun we had. It’s always a risk bringing a large cast together, especially from all over the world, from all different cultures and backgrounds. We just lucked out. We just got such a good group. To be able to explore [Hong Kong] with people that I’m working with that became genuine friends of mine was just the best.
Want to hear more about the intense behind-the-scenes antics, the secrets of the cast’s incredible chemistry, and more deep dives into the twists of Hong Kong high society? Be sure to watch the full video interview for more from Jessie Mei Li and Chris Pang.
About The Season
A group of friends in Hong Kong’s elite boating scene find their summer getaway descending into betrayal and power plays as hidden agendas surface.
THE SEASON exclusively streams on Hulu in the US on June 17, 2026 with all six episodes being available at once. The series will also be available on Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.
