Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva is reporting on the development of 1999 hitman drama, Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, as a one-hour series with Wu Tang: An American Saga duo RZA (Cut Throat City, The Man With The Iron Fists) and screenwriter Alex Tse (Superfly remake, Watchmen). The move comes following updates roughly around late 2017 and the following year as RZA was also involved with sequel efforts at the time, hailing a possible reunion with Jarmusch and title actor Forest Whitaker.
“As a huge hip-hop head growing up, Wu-Tang resonated with me in particular, not only as a Chinese American, but as a geek because the music referenced kung fu movies, comic books, stuff that I was into,” said Tse. “Wu combined geek culture and street culture and made it all cool, promoting an accessibility that created one of the most diverse fan bases in the world. With Xen Diagram Media, RZA and I aim to do the same through story.”
Added RZA, “With the two of us coming from very different backgrounds — ethnically, economically, professionally — we believe we offer a unique, yet inclusive, perspective that we’re excited to share with the world.”
Layered with a visage of Japanese literary aesthetic for its urban plinth and hip hop cultivation a la RZA’s own original score, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai became a commercial hit as well as a cult classic with several nominations to its name. Whitaker, already a studious martial artist at the time, played the titular samurai-minded hitman whose continued service to the mobster who saved his life at a young age now sees our stealthy assassin wage an urban one-man ninja war against a crime organization that wants him dead.
The new series push is just one notch in a new creative slate joining RZA and Tse under their newly formed banner, Xen Diagram Media, which is being billed as “one of the industry’s first Black and Asian creator-led production companies”. The two are also shepherding one-hour drama, Kid Punchy, assembling their team over at AC Studios with RZA directing.
Wu Tang: An American Saga is a hit series from the duo and recently scored a third and final season on Hulu.