Netflix dropped the trailer for the Sandra Oh-led series “The Chair” on Wednesday, which is “Game of Thrones” showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff’s first scripted show at the streaming service. And though this series, created and showrun by Amanda Peet, is nothing like “GoT” on the surface, it seems Oh’s character, the first woman chair of her university’s English department, will be facing a “serious reputational matter” — not unlike several powerful women of Westeros did before her.
In the trailer for “The Chair,” which you can view here and via the video above, Oh’s Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim is left handling a scandal involving her friend and colleague Professor Bill Dobson (played by Jay Duplass), whom she appears to have feelings for, while navigating her new role as the chair of the English department at the prestigious Pembroke University. We don’t know exactly what Dobson did here, but we know Kim is spending her time both defending him and telling him to “get your s— together.”
Per Netflix, “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.”
“I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it explodes,” Kim says, adding at the end of the trailer, “I am the chair of the department. Let’s f—ing shoot this place up.”
Oh, and if you recognized the voices there, yes, the trailer is set to a new song by The Linda Lindas, the viral all-female punk band with members ranging from 10 to 16 years old.
“The Chair” stars Sandra Oh as Professor Ji-Yoon Kim, Jay Duplass as Professor Bill Dobson, Holland Taylor as Professor Joan Hambling, Bob Balaban as Professor Elliot Rentz, Nana Mensah as Professor Yaz McKay, David Morse as Dean Paul Larson and Everly Carganilla as Ju-Hee “Ju Ju” Kim, among others.
Peet is writer, showrunner and executive producer on the series. Other executive producers include Oh, Benioff, Weiss, Bernie Caulfield and Daniel Gray Longino. Writers are Peet, along with Annie Julia Wyman, Richard E. Robbins, Jennifer Kim and Andrea Troyer. Daniel Gray Longino directed all episodes.
“The Chair” launches Aug. 20 on Netflix.
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