The Season: Jade on Embracing Hong Kong, Typecasting, Arrow & More

Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: The Season

The Season: Jade on Embracing Hong Kong, Typecasting, Arrow & More

Celina Jade (Arrow) spoke with us about her Hulu drama, The Season, embracing Hong Kong, leaving Hollywood behind, and much more.

Published Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:37:08 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Celina Jade reveals why The Season drew her back to Hong Kong, letting her swap action roles for finance drama.
• The Season gave Jade a rare chance to play a self-made power broker in Hong Kong high society and its chaos.
• Jade discusses leaving Hollywood behind, escaping typecasting, and finding broader roles in China and Hong Kong.
• The Arrow alum reflects on Shado’s legacy, The Season’s ensemble cast, and her hope to reach Hulu fans in English.

Any time you need to move to find steady work, it's always difficult, especially if it's to a different country, but for Celina Jade, she's made it seamless. Jaded by her experiences in Hollywood, pigeonholed into the typecasting experience as a Eurasian actress, the Arrow star set her sights on Hong Kong, where she had creative autonomy with greater opportunities to play with a better range, especially with her latest Hulu series, The Season as Carrie Shen, a powerhouse mogul in the financial world as Cola's (Jessie Mei Li) boss and her mentor. The Yalun Tu (NCIS: Hawai'i)-created series follows a privileged group of friends gathering for a summer of sun-drenched luxury as boating season begins, but things take a turn as a web of deception, power struggles, and life-altering consequences weaves into their circle. Jade spoke to Bleeding Cool about how The Season is a throwback to her collegiate days, playing into Hong Kong high society, working with Tu, ensemble cast, moving on from Hollywood, her Arrow legacy, not looking back, and her dream director.

The Season Star Celina Jade on Moving on from Hollywood, Embracing Hong Kong Entertainment Industry, 'Arrow' Legacy as Shado, and More

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Season'?

Jade: First, 'The Season' is shot in Hong Kong, which is my hometown. I was so excited to go back to shoot something. It's a little different than a lot of the projects I do. I've done a lot of stuff in the past in the West that has martial arts in it, and for this one, it was quite different. I play a financial analyst, and I graduated from the LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science), so for me, the conversation and dialogue remind me of my university days. I haven't done an English project since before COVID. It was a no-brainer. I wanted to be involved, shoot in Hong Kong, and I wanted to play something that reminded me of university, basically.

What does playing Carrie in 'The Season' allow you to do that you typically wouldn't do in your other roles?

I mean, Carrie is a financial advisor and self-made woman. It's the story of the struggle of a self-made woman in Hong Kong in high society. It's just a role I've never really played, and I don't think Hong Kong's high society has ever been portrayed. I've never played a financial advisor before, and I don't think I've personally ever seen the high society of Hong Kong being portrayed before like that kind of circle and craziness. Most of the roles I've played in the West are action movies, and then in the East, I've had a variety of roles, but nothing in the finance circle, you know?

What's it like working with Yalun Tu as a creative?

Yalun is a really good producer in the sense that there are a lot of people he has to deal with because it's a big cast, it's an ensemble cast, and he has had experience living in Hong Kong, so I feel like a lot of his stories are quite authentic to its time.

What did you enjoy about working with this ensemble cast with Jesse [Mei Li], Toby [Stephens], Chris [Pang], Justin [Chien], and Yvonne [Chapman]?

Yeah, so I loved working with all of them. It was a great cast. Everyone got along really well. Jesse's super fun. Chris's great at improvising. Toby is hilarious. He's very humorous. I think we had a very humorous cast. Justin is a very caring person, so is Yvonne. Everyone's very down to earth. We all really jive together. It didn't even feel like work, to be honest. We just loved hanging out and being together as a cast. So yeah, I found it quite enjoyable.

Now, you touched on it earlier: the kind of work you were doing in the West versus the opportunities you have in Hong Kong. I wanted to ask, since some think Asian visibility has improved in general, but obviously, it varies from person to person. How do you feel as an actor who has the opportunities that really can come through regarding what's been out there for you, or have you always felt typecast in your roles in the West?

In the West, to be honest, I haven't auditioned or done anything in the West since COVID. I basically moved to Beijing after 'Wolf Warrior II' (2017), and I've been lucky over here in mainland China. I've come across many good projects with great directors, and I've been so excited working over here, and because I have family now here, it's just much easier for me to shoot over here. I love being in mainland China, because I don't get typecast [laughs]. I can't say personally if that's improved in the U.S. since [my time on] 'Arrow.' It's been like 10 years since 'Arrow,' so back in those days, definitely, it was very difficult for me because I'm Eurasian and I'm going up for Asian roles and then they're like, "Yeah, but she looks white," and then when I go for Western roles, they're, like, "But she's Asian, you know?" Like, they can't get over this appearance thing, whereas over here in mainland China, I've just been considered as an actor. "Can she play the story? Can she play a character?" To be honest, because my family is here, it just makes more sense for me to be closer to home. I want to be close to my children and my husband, so I haven't really auditioned for stuff overseas.

What does it mean to have a platform like Hulu and streamers in general to have that reach and reach your fans in the States, where, before, they might have only heard, otherwise, of your Hong Kong work by word of mouth?

Yeah, I'm super excited. I mean, it's not even just my fans, but my family in the US are really excited to see me do something in English. I hope that people can see that I've grown as an actor, and I'm really excited. I think it's a great opportunity for me.

Shifting back to 'Arrow,' have you interacted with any of the Arrowverse community, and what do you think about the legacy you had as Shado? Is it something that you've really talked about much at all, or is it something long in the rearview mirror you've turned the page on from your life?

No, it's not something I talk about. I'm not very good with social media [laughs]. I wish I was better. The last time I really interacted with the fans was at Comic-Con many, many years ago. I still have fans on my page that still recognize me as Shado. I'm so grateful to them for still following me and wanting to know about my work and what I'm doing. I'm a weird character. After I do a project, I just let it go [laughs]. For me, I go with the flow with things, and I don't really hold on to anything in the past, really, just in general in life. I haven't really interacted with the fans since Comic Con, in person. Obviously, when people message me on Instagram, I try to respond when I can, and I see people's responses or comments, yeah.

Is there like a dream person, either anywhere in the world, that maybe like a director or actor that you would want to work with in the future?

Well, my dream is to work with Clint Eastwood, but he's getting old. Yeah, that's my dream. Do you think it's still a possibility, Tom?

I mean, I think he's more or less retired from filmmaking, but hey, you never know, right?

Right.

The Season is available on Hulu.

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