Joseph Gordon-Levitt To EP, Poised To Star In ‘Gaijin’ Drama Inspired By Ivan Orkin In Works At Hulu From Shannon Goss

Hulu, the streaming home of FX’s Emmy record-breaking Shōgun, is developing another drama about a Westerner’s adventures in Japan, this time set in the 21st century. The project, titled Gaijin, Japanese for foreigner or outsider, comes from Shōgun co-executive producer Shannon Goss. It is executive produced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt with an eye for him to star. Lionsgate Television is the studio.

Inspired by Ivan Orkin’s real-life story that led to the creation of Ivan Ramen, Gaijin is about an American culinary school dropout who spontaneously moves to Tokyo with his young son following his wife’s death. Desperate to maintain a connection to his wife’s home country, Ivan (Gordon-Levitt) plunges headfirst into life in Japan. He moves in with his in-laws, whom he barely knows and barely likes, and takes action on a long-held dream of opening his own restaurant – in this case, a ramen shop. Through hardships, culture clashes and humorous moments lost in translation, Ivan will, over the course of the series, take on the Herculean task of building a business and rebuilding a life.

Goss and Orkin executive produce alongside Gordon-Levitt and Jared Geller via Hit Record and Nickel City Pictures’ Mark Fasano, Matthew Alex Goldberg, Mike Blutstein and Andrew Gottlieb.