Nicole Kidman's 'Expats' Banned in Hong Kong

The TV drama Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, cannot be accessed in Hong Kong due to its depiction of the 2014 pro-democracy 'Umbrella' movement and references to independence from China. The series, set in Hong Kong and directed by Lulu Wang, is based on a book by Janice Y.K. Lee and focuses on the lives of three women in Hong Kong in 2014, including scenes from the Umbrella Movement. The Hong Kong government's silence on the matter has sparked speculation about the reasons behind the unavailability of the program, and analysts suspect that it may be related to the reproduced scenes of the 2014 protests. The series' inaccessibility in Hong Kong is likely linked to the government's tightened controls over political speech following 2019 anti-government protests and the passing of a National Security Law by China in 2020. The city's government also changed the Film Censorship Ordinance to give them the power to remove films which include 'portrayal, depiction, or treatment of any act or activity which may amount to an offense endangering national security.'