Netflix Releases Fifth and Final Season of Beloved Sitcom

After it was announced this past March that Kim's Convenience would not be returning for Season 6, [...]

By Tania Hussain

After it was announced this past March that Kim's Convenience would not be returning for Season 6, the fifth and what is now the final season of the show has premiered on Netflix in the U.S. as of Wednesday morning. The beloved Canadian sitcom from CBC Television, based on creator Ins Choi's stage play of the same name, debuted in October 2016 to rave reviews and earned a number of awards. Depicting a Korean-Canadian family that runs a convenience store in the Toronto neighborhood of Moss Park, the series has fans excited to binge and binge all over again.

The fifth season, which finished airing in Canada on April 13 will not be available on Netflix in Canada just yet, but viewers can watch it on CBC Gem for now. Kim's Convenience, a situational comedy chronicling the many shenanigans of the Kim family stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Andrea Bang, Simu Liu, Andrew Phung, and Nicole Power — who is getting her spinoff, per reports.

The series' ending has not been without any controversy as one of the series stars, Liu, took to Facebook on Wednesday revealing his upset and frustration over the story coming to an abrupt end and the lack of both East Asian and female representation, as well as Asian voices for a story about members of the Asian community. While he expressed his happiness for Power getting her own spinoff, the 32-year-old took to social media to call out the "overwhelmingly white" producers of the sitcom who did not welcome any input from the Asian-Canadian cast.

Revealing that the show had not been "canceled in a traditional network," that is by a network, it was more about the producers who were unable to find another Asian writer after Ins Choi's departure to fill that voice. The 32-year-old adds how the largely Asian cast provided input for their characters' stories but was rebuffed and ignored by producers and writers. "Aside from Ins, there were no other Korean voices in the room. And personally, I do not think he did enough to be a champion for those voices (including ours)," he said.

Liu further revealed that talk about a Kim's Convenience spinoff is in the works with the only non-Asian character for Shannon (played by Power), proving something very wrong with the narratives built through mainstream media. "It's been difficult for me. I love and am proud of Nicole, and I want the show to succeed for her... but I remain resentful of all of the circumstances that led to the one non-Asian character getting her own show," he said. "And not that they would ever ask, but I will adamantly refuse to reprise my role in any capacity."

All five seasons of Kim's Convenience are now streaming on Netflix in the U.S. For more on all your favorite shows on the streaming giant, stay tuned to the latest from PopCulture.

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