It’s been several years in and with martial arts and multi-media heiress Shannon Lee steering at the helm at Bruce Lee Enterprises. Her late father’s unattended writings now the source of inspiration for fascinating TV and film to come, Cinemax now brings us the mini-teaser for Warrior which airs in 2019.
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. Filmed 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 PR for Warrior this week serves as an ample booster for posterity in Asian film and TV talents; Regarding martial arts dramas, shows like AMC’s Into The Badlands and the recent production start of Netflix series, Wu Assassins comes to mind.
Andrew Koji (Deep Pan Fury) makes a sterling outing as the show’s star, playing nomadic martial arts prodigy, Ah Sahm. Olivia Cheng of Marco Polo fame gets her load of badassery in as Ah Toy, Chinatown’s most accomplished courtesan and madame.
Also starring for Warrior are Jason Tobin who will play Young Jun, the hard-partying son of a powerful tong boss; actress 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; actor Kieran Bew as Officer “Big Bill” O’Hara, a hard-drinking Irish cop charged with forming a Chinatown squad; and actor Dean Jagger (Game Of Thrones) as Dan Leary, the unofficial godfather of the Irish community of San Francisco and leader of the Workingmen’s party.
Rounding out the cast is actress Joanna Vanderham who is set to play Penelope Blake, the aristocratic heir to a railroad fortune, trapped in a loveless marriage to San Francisco mayor Samuel Blake – to be played by actor Christian McKay; and actor Tom Weston-Jones as Richard Lee, a transplanted Southerner and rookie cop. Hoon Lee of Banshee and Outcast fame weighs in as Wang Chao, a wiley fixer and profiteer in Chinatown while upcoming The Night Comes For Us star Joe Taslim adds to the cadre of killers as Li Yong, a Tong Lieutenant and kung fu master; fellow Banshee alum Langley Kirkwood will play Walter Buckley, a civil war veteran and Deputy Mayor with his own political aspirations, and Perry Yung as Father Jun, the leader of the most powerful tong in Chinatown.
Stay tuned for a full trailer and premiere date!