There may be a lot we don’t know about our parents and their history. For example, what were their dreams before they had children, what type of people were they when they were younger, and how did their lives change after having kids? The Audible series, The Moons of LA, follows a Korean American family where a young daughter named Chloe Moon (voiced by Alyssa Abiera) makes her dad (voiced by Ken Jeong) the topic of a middle school podcast project. As an investigative journalism podcast aficionado, she tries to save her parents’ marriage after finding out their relationship is falling apart.
The Moons of LA is written by Paul Bae and co-produced by Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD. The audio series also features the voices of John Cho (Star Trek), Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Randall Park (WandaVision), Jimmy O Yang (Silicon Valley), Liza Soberano (The Forgotten Island), and more.
The audio series’ conception started with Kim wanting to find a good story, and that was thanks to Bae. Once he had the story locked down, he would try to bring his actor friends on board the project.
“When I was selling the show to Ken and everyone else, I was saying, ‘Look, this is a story about who we are as we grow older, given the responsibilities that we have and the vision we had of ourselves as kids.'” Kim tells Nerd Reactor. “And how, as we age, do those things change, and how do our responsibilities weigh on us if we feel like we haven’t achieved our own goals yet?
“To see it through the eyes of our own children is something that I’ve personally experienced, and I think Ken has too. Who we think we are is not who our children think we are, and it’s great to see ourselves reflected through their eyes.”
Jeong is known for his comedic roles, but in The Moons of LA, audiences get to see a more vulnerable side to his performance. The actor talks about how his past has shaped who he is.
“I think the past definitely shapes and builds character and gives you challenges,” Jeong says. “Just coming from a medical world where I didn’t even think I would do this for a living, just didn’t know if I could do it. So when I think about my own past, I almost feel like I’ve lived so many different lives, and these are just another, almost distinct, different lives and phases.
“Then somehow now that I’m older, just feeling like, ‘Oh, I was a doctor, but I wasn’t the same guy.’ But in many ways I am the same guy because I’m just in a different land, I’m just in a different background, and that’s still no excuse to not push yourself and build yourself in the job that you’re doing. I think definitely my past shapes who I am on so many levels.”
The Moons of LA is now available on Audible.
About The Moons of LA
Synopsis: A Korean American man is forced to confront and reassess his life purpose and meaning when his daughter makes him the subject of her middle school podcast project.
By day, Chloe Moon is a precocious middle schooler; by night, an investigative journalism podcast aficionado. She dreams of hosting her own true crime series, delivering justice to the bereaved and the wronged. So when she stumbles onto the revelation that her parents’ marriage is falling apart, she realizes this could upend her whole life. She turns her amateur investigative eye towards solving her parents’ marital issues and helping heal their rift. But in the process of interviewing her subjects over plates of banchan with gregarious halmeonis and rounds of golf with her father’s boisterous buddies, Chloe peels back the layers to get to the core of what makes a family.
Starring Ken Jeong, Jae Suh Park, and Alyssa Abiera, alongside a star-studded cast including Daniel Dae Kim, Randall Park, Jimmy O. Yang, John Cho, Sherry Cola, Vivian Bang, Sydney Park, and Liza Soberano, The Moons of LA is a comedic coming-of-age audio series that follows Chloe through Korean American suburbia as she pursues the truth. Whether it’s loud karaoke or grandparents bickering while making kimchi, nothing will get in her way. Written by Paul Bae (The Black Tapes), directed by James Kim (Moonface).
