In Netflix comedy The Chair, Sandra Oh found the relief she craved after the psychological toll her role in Killing Eve took
- Oh stars as the first female chair of the English department at fictional Pembroke University and one of only a few employees of colour working there
- The former Grey’s Anatomy star craved a return to comedy after starring in BBC America’s Killing Eve, which she says took a toll on her mentally
Sandra Oh finally has a seat at the table. More specifically, a chair.
The Killing Eve and former Grey’s Anatomy star sits in the Netflix comedy series The Chair as Ji-Yoon Kim, the new chair of the English department at fictional Pembroke University. While yes, it is a comedy, Ji-Yoon faces drama as the first female to hold the position and one of only a few employees of colour at the university.
Oh grew hungry for a comedy after playing MI-5 agent Eve Polastri on BBC America’s Killing Eve, which she says took a psychological toll.
“What Ji-Yoon goes through is not light at all, but I thought the circumstances were friendlier,” she says, laughing, from London, where she’s shooting the fourth and final season of Eve.
Her college tenure spirals out of control: she needs to cut three professors from her staff, and the prime candidates fear they’re being pushed out; her love interest and colleague Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass) angers students after his misguided Nazi salute in class; and she’s struggling to connect with her adoptive daughter JuJu (Everly Carganilla). The Chair comes from co-creators Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman.