Li Jun Li is getting a series built around her. Hulu has officially moved forward with Victoria, a limited thriller created by Christy Hall and produced through Onyx Collective and Counterpart Studios. Li will star and also serve as a co-producer.
Maxine Tao finds the grift of a lifetime
Li plays Maxine Tao, a sophisticated and cunning con woman whose chance encounter opens a door into San Francisco's high-stakes venture-capital scene. For someone who makes a living manipulating people, it looks like an unusually lucrative room to enter.
It is also where the premise becomes considerably darker. Maxine is pulled into a web of power and luxury while a seductive killer who knows her secrets begins targeting her.
There is an appealing bit of friction in that setup. Victoria is placing a character whose survival depends on controlling what other people know about her inside an environment built on money, access, reputation and aggressive bets on the future. Then the story introduces one person who apparently already has the information Maxine cannot afford to lose.
Christy Hall is running the show
Hall will serve as showrunner and executive producer. She previously co-created Netflix's I Am Not Okay with This before writing and directing Daddio, the dialogue-heavy drama starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. She also wrote and produced the film adaptation of It Ends with Us.
Victoria sounds very different on the surface, trading Daddio's taxi-bound intimacy for venture capital, deception and murder. The common element may ultimately be the people trapped in conversations where one person knows considerably more than the other.
Geeta Vasant Patel will direct the pilot
Emmy-nominated filmmaker Geeta Vasant Patel has been tapped to direct the opening episode and will executive-produce the limited series. Her television work includes Under the Bridge and House of the Dragon.
Lilly Burns, Elise Henderson and Tony Hernandez are also executive producers for Counterpart Studios. No additional cast members have been announced yet.
Li Jun Li has been building toward the lead
The project arrives during a particularly busy run for Li. Her recent credits include Babylon, Ryan Coogler's Sinners and Spider-Noir opposite Nicolas Cage. She has also wrapped roles in The Night Agent Season 4 and The Last of Us Season 3.
Victoria changes the equation by putting her character at the center from the beginning. Maxine is not entering someone else's story; everyone else will be orbiting her lies.
Hulu has not announced a production start, episode count or release date for Victoria.
