The Chair Trailer: Sandra Oh Is in Deep, Deep Trouble

The streaming return of Game of Thrones co-creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff is just shy of a month away. The pair is among the executive producers of The Chair, an upcoming Netflix series written and created by Benioff’s wife, the actor Amanda Peet, that premieres on August 20. From the look of the trailer that dropped on Wednesday, though, that’s about the only thing the two series have in common. The Chair centers on a scandal at the prestigious Pembroke University, which just welcomed Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) as the first woman to chair its English department. (She’s also among just a handful of employees of color.)

Clearly, things are off to a rough start. “This department’s hanging on by a thread,” a school official remarks as Dr. Kim sets eyes on a group of students protesting, toting signs with slogans like “Pembroke Complicit,” “Shame on You Dr. Kim,” and “Down With Dobson.” The latter refers to a professor played by Jay Duplass, who first appears slamming his laptop shut in horror upon glimpsing whatever’s on social media that has everyone in a tizzy. The trailer doesn’t reveal anything further, but the posting isn’t the only thing causing trouble. Romance is not so subtly brewing between Professor Dobson and Dr. Kim, who happens to be his superior.

“I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it explodes,” Dr. Kim at one point vents. Meanwhile, Holland Taylor is running around miming shooting herself in the head and setting fire to official-looking papers. Hopefully, the drama is enough to hold you over until Oh next returns to streaming with the fourth and final season of Killing Eve, set for some time in 2022.