Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images and Amazon Studios
When Nahnatchka Khan initiated a video call with Kiernan Shipka to discuss the lead role in her new slasher comedy Totally Killer, she assumed the actress wouldn’t remember her. Khan had directed Shipka in an early episode of Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, one of a few sitcoms she has created, but Shipka was all of 11 years old at the time. Turns out she didn’t need any reminding. Khan gently mentioned their history, and Shipka immediately started ticking off specific memories about the pair’s collaboration.
That Khan thought she might be forgotten speaks to her unassuming nature. Despite a writing résumé that includes Malcolm in the Middle, American Dad!, Fresh Off the Boat (which she created), Young Rock (which she also created), and the popular Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe (which she directed), Khan has never hogged the spotlight, content to let her scripts do the talking. That’s rare in comedy, where big personalities tend to get ahead. Then again, Khan, who grew up in a small, relaxed Hawaiian town, is a rare breed herself: an Iranian American lesbian who has thrived in Hollywood, seemingly without fail, for the better part of three decades.
With Shipka on strike alongside the rest of the Screen Actors Guild, Khan is the sole promotional face of Totally Killer, which closed out Fantastic Fest in Austin last week and will debut on Prime Video this Friday. Usually she can take a back seat to the A-listers in her casts, people like Ali Wong, Randall Park, Constance Wu, Dwayne Johnson, and Krysten Ritter. Not this time. In an age when many showrunners are household names, it’s Khan’s moment to shine.