The Flight Attendant showrunner Natalie Chaidez’s next project has taken her to the O.C. Co-created alongside writer Dinh Thai, Freeform’s newest pilot, AZNBBGRL, has cast its stars: Cathy Bui as Anh, Lynn Kim Do as Jenny, and Jazelle Villanueva as Dang-Dang. The three play Asian American teenagers as they carve out their own place in the world, per Deadline. Driven by a desire to break free from generational expectations, the three women form an intense bond when they become entangled with a street gang that offers them a way out. Anh is described as a hard-working girl who dreams of attending a top college but gets derailed when her best friend Jenny enlists in a dangerous plan involving a street gang. Both eventually develop a deep friendship with Dang-Dang, a young woman who can’t seem to escape her troubled past. Other cast members include Quentin Nguyen-Duy, who will play a rising member of the gang with musical dreams, Alejandro Akara, an ex-boyfriend of Anh, Audrey Huynh, Jenny’s younger sister, and Cat Ly, Anh’s aunt. Kai Yu Wu of Netflix’s The Ghost Bride will serve as the showrunner for the upcoming show.
The title comes from the term “Asian Baby Girl” or “ABG,” used within Asian communities to describe a subculture of women who subverted the “model minority” stereotype. Now, the term is seen more as a fashion or aesthetic style, popularized from the Facebook group “Subtle Asian Traits.” Videos like “We Transform Into ABGs (Asian Baby Girls) for a Day” and “ABG (Asian Baby Girl) Transformation” have been popping up online over the years and now have translated to television.
