Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) is standing on the precipice of disaster in the first full length trailer for the original Netflix comedy series, The Chair. Oh stars as Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman to become the Chair of the English department at the esteemed Pembroke University, as reported by Indiewire.
Arriving on Wednesday morning, the new trailer offers a chaotic look inside Dr. Kim’s life as she navigates keeping track of fellow professors and students while also dealing with the pressures of being the first woman to head the English department. Suffice to say, things are not going well as Dr. Kim goes into full crisis management mode to deal with one unruly professor, portrayed by Jay Duplass (Room 104), who is teetering on the edge of a new scandal.
Indiewire picked up the official synopsis for the series courtesy of Netflix: “ ‘The Chair’ follows Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) as she navigates her new role as the Chair of the English department at prestigious Pembroke University. Ji-Yoon is faced with a unique set of challenges as the first woman to chair the department, and as one of the few staff members of color at the university. The older staff fear change, while new blood, like professor Yasmin McKay (Nana Mensah), agitate for it. Ji-Yoon tries to juggle her new administrative responsibilities —clashing with close co-workers who were confidants before she became the boss— with motherhood to her young daughter Ju Ju (Everly Carginilla) and caretaking for her father Habi (Ji Yong Lee).”
The trailer is kicked off by Oh’s character, Ji-Yoon, giving dramatic announcement at a meeting with the entire English Department: “I’m not going to sugar coat this. We are in dire crisis.” Later on, she expresses her suspicions on why she was given the job: “I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it explodes.” Mayhem follows as office fires are started, professors ricochet off electric bikes, and catfights between colleagues erupt.
The cast also features Holland Taylor (Legally Blonde), Nana Mensah (Bonding), Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom), David Morse (Blindspot), and Everly Carganilla (Yes Day). The first season will contain six episodes, and is written and executive produced by Amanda Peet (Dirty John: The Case of Betty Broderick), who is also the series showrunner. The Chair debuts on Netflix August 20.
Watch the trailer for The Chair below: