Fresh Off the Boat writer talks Heather Locklear's guest role as Marvin's ex-wife

Every week, the cast and crew of ABC’s Taiwanese American family comedy, Fresh Off the Boat, is taking EW behind the scenes. For each episode, one member is recapping, sharing thoughts on what went down, and walking us through the ins-and-outs of the show. This week, writer Sheng Wang brings us into the thirteenth episode of season 3, “The Gloves Are Off.”

Hello! I’m Sheng Wang, a writer on Fresh Off the Boat. You might know me as the actor who played Hank, Louis’s old friend from D.C., in season 2’s fifteenth episode. But you probably don’t. That’s okay. It was a small role. I had like one line, and it was a quick flashback scene. So it’s not a big deal. For real. I mean, it would almost be weird if you did know this information.

Anyway, in this week’s episode, Jessica accidentally befriends Marvin’s ex-wife, Sarah (played by ’90s icon Heather Locklear). It’s exciting because it’s the first time we get to meet Sarah, a character we’ve only previously heard about. But for all you “Fresh-heads” who’ve been closely watching, you get bonus points if you already knew that Sarah is a big fan of horse murals, she’s Marvin’s second wife, and she’s a DJ at the Radisson on Sundays! Jessica’s friendship with Honey is challenged but ultimately strengthened when she tries to help and protect Honey the only way she knows how — with direct action and cunning.

In the other story, Louis and the boys want to surprise Grandma with a new motorized wheelchair, but first, they must determine her true age to see if she qualifies to get it for free. We first came up with this idea because we thought it could be fun to explore what kind of adventures Grandma would get into with her newfound independence. Also, it would really help out production if she could enter a scene without a crew member surreptitiously pushing her across the carpet on set. It was tons of fun working on this episode. Randall Park, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen are all such talented delights to work with. One of the highlights during production was watching Lucille Soong, who plays Grandma, deliver her lines while driving a “Jazzy Power Chair” and committing a possible felony all at the same time!

Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.