Jonah Takalua to join Ja'mie King in new Chris Lilley series: sources Chris Lilley as Jonah in Summer Heights High. Photo: Courtesy ABC The troubled Tongan schoolboy Jonah Takalua looks certain to join spoiled brat schoolgirl Ja'mie King in the ABC's highly anticipated new comedy series from writer/actor Chris Lilley. The series, Ja'mie: Private School Girl, will focus on King but Jonah, arguably Lilley's strongest fictional creation to date, will also appear in the series, according to sources. Although the new project is not being marketed as a direct sequel to Summer Heights High, the move would reunite two of that show's most popular characters. Writer and actor Chris Lilley Jonah Takalua was first introduced to viewers in Summer Heights High as the second youngest of five kids being raised by single dad Rocky Takalua (Tovia Matiasi). His struggle with literacy, and his relationship with the school's remediation English teacher, Jan Palmer (Maud Davey), gave Summer Heights High its strongest emotional firepower. US television critic Karla Peterson wrote in the San Diego Union-Tribute that Takalua was the "jewel in [Lilley's] twisted jester's cap." "Lilley plays [Jonah] with a cherry-bomb energy and an outsider's empathy that makes Jonah such an aggravating charmer," she wrote. It's easy to forget that this 13-year-old hooligan is being played by [an actor in his 30s]. Lilley has a well-established tradition of re-using characters from past series. King, for example, first appeared in We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year and later Summer Heights High. We Can Be Heroes was broadcast internationally with the title The Nominees. Another character, the flamboyant music teacher Greg "Mr G" Gregson, first appeared in a sketch comedy Lilley worked on, 2003's The Big Bite, before returning as a major character in Summer Heights High. And South Australian twins Daniel and Nathan Sims, who first appeared in We Can Be Heroes, returned for Lilley's third series, Angry Boys. The latter project introduced their grandmother, prison guard Gran Sims, also played by Lilley. Gran Sims was the breakout star of Angry Boys, which received otherwise mixed reviews. Lilley's new series is a co-production between the ABC, the BBC and the US cable channel HBO.