It looks like another Asian-themed TV series with Asian/Asian American characters is going to be a hit based on its pedigree and a ‘teaser’ trailer just released.
Cinemax released a “Teaser” of Warrior that will hit the small screen in 2019 and it looks powerful.
Justin Lin (Fast & Furious), who is co-executive producer with Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, will be directing some of the episodes (but, not the pilot) Here’s the official synopsis:
“Inspired by an idea from martial-arts legend Bruce Lee, this gritty, action- packed crime drama is set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. Filming in Cape Town, South Africa, it follows a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful organized crime families. Produced for CINEMAX by Perfect Storm Entertainment, Tropper Ink Productions and Bruce Lee Entertainment; created and executive produced by Jonathan Tropper under Tropper Ink Productions; Justin Lin and Danielle Woodrow executive produce on behalf of Perfect Storm Entertainment; Shannon Lee executive produces for Bruce Lee Entertainment.”
The late martial arts icon, Bruce Lee, had created the project for Warner Bros. but the studio, saddled with a lack of imagination, rejected it. He kept the rejected project in the family garage and the treatment was considered lost. The project was meant to serve as a precursor to a the 1970s Warner Bros. television series Kung Fu, which was also Bruce Lee’s idea but, we know how that racist miscasting went.
“As Warrior comes together, I can’t help but feel the pride of correcting a wrong and helping bring Bruce Lee’s dream project to life,” Lin told Deadline. “We have assembled a cast of incredible actors from all over the world including our talented lead, Andrew Koji, an exciting discovery out of the UK.”
“The martial arts genre a lot of times has been relegated to B-level action,” added Lin. “And that’s not something we wanted to do. Going off of Bruce Lee’s original material, we wanted to build something that is character-driven, that has important themes and that also takes place in a part of American history that rarely gets talked about. That to me makes it something you haven’t seen before.”
According to Deadline, the cast includes Andrew Koji as Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who travels from China to San Francisco and ends up becoming a hatchet man for the most powerful tong in Chinatown; Olivia Cheng as Ah Toy, Chinatown’s most accomplished courtesan and madame; Jason Tobin as Young Jun, the hard-partying son of a powerful tong boss; Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, a beautiful and ruthless Chinese woman who, through sheer force of will, has achieved a position of power in one of the tongs; Kieran Bew as Officer “Big Bill” O’Hara, a hard-drinking Irish cop charged with forming a Chinatown squad; and Dean Jagger as Dan Leary, the unofficial godfather of the Irish community of San Francisco and leader of the Workingmen’s party.
Shannon Lee told the Los Angeles Times that she was excited to see where the show was headed. “Season 1 is just the beginning. We’ll hopefully get the opportunity to play the long game here and really get into some extremely interesting stuff, which we already have planned.”
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