The Brothers Sun premiered on Netflix in January 2024 and had a decent eight-episode run in the first season. Sadly, despite extremely impressive performances from a star-studded cast, Netflix has decided to pull the plug on the show after just one season..
Starring Michelle Yeoh, Justin Chien, Sam Song Li and Joon Lee, The Brothers Sun is an action-packed family drama with bits of dark comedy. The show was created by Brad Falchuck (Glee) and newcomer Byron Wu. The story revolves around the lives of two brothers, Charles (Justin Chien) and Bruce Sun (Sam Li), who belong to one of Taiwan’s most dangerous gangster families with Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as their ambitious matriarch.
The show received a lot of critical praise and spent five weeks in the Netflix Top 10, peaking at Number 2. Ultimately, though, it just couldn’t find the right audience on the streaming platform. The weekly views for the show stayed below the 7 million mark and slipped under 2 million by the end of its run on the charts.
The Critics’ Positive Response to The Show Couldn’t Save it From Getting Axed
The Brothers Sun received strong reviews from the critics and topped quite a few weeks of Netflix’s weekly charts. The show stands at 84% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and over at the IMDB front, has managed to rake in 7.6 ratings on from around 20k reviewers. According to Collider’s Chase Hutchinson, Yeoh delivers a commanding performance, and that the show has “more value when it lets Yeoh cook”. This was also Yeoh’s first major project after her Oscar win and was one of her most incredible TV performances to date.
In addition to Yeoh, the show also introduces Chien and Li as breakthrough stars. The nuanced portrayal of these two actors as completely opposite brothers fighting to protect their family is an absolute treat to watch. Li’s character offers a lot of comic relief, helping the audience digest all the twists and turns in the Sun family’s dark world. All in all, the show packs a powerful punch of entertainment in all aspects.
Yeoh, on the other hand, is all set to star in the latest Wicked adaptation, along with a Star Trek spinoff and in James Cameron’s next installment in the Avatar franchise. So, while The Brothers Sun is no more, her fans definitely have a lot to look forward to.
via Collider