Into The Badlands

[GeneChing]

Ready to go back to the Badlands this Sunday? READ INTO THE BADLANDS Season 3: From Colts to Clippers – Growing Up in the Badlands by Gene Ching

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THREADS:
May June 2018
Into The Badlands

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In the Badlands, anything can be an improvised weapon. READ INTO THE BADLANDS Season 3: Arming the Badlands Part 1 – Octopus Nunchuks by Gene Ching

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Hope their luck turns around for season 4...assuming that's greenlit. Better be.

'Into the Badlands' star Daniel Wu is 'still pretty sour' over the show's Emmy snub
Jethro Nededog Apr. 7, 2017, 4:38 PM


Daniel Wu on AMC's "Into the Badlands." James Dimmock/AMC

AMC's "Into the Badlands" was snubbed by last year's Emmy awards - something its star has a hard time accepting.
"I question that. Especially for action choreography I was expecting a nomination," Daniel Wu, the star and executive producer on the AMC show (airing its second season on Sundays), told Business Insider recently.

"I'm still pretty sour about that, because there were shows that got nominated that definitely have lousy action," Wu continued. "I was very surprised that we didn't get nominated. I'm not sure what factors are involved in that. I know AMC definitely has the power to push something like that and I know they did, so I'm not sure why it didn't get there."

"Into the Badlands" takes place in a post-apocalyptic society where land has been divided among lords and everyone has to choose sides. Wu's Sunny is the deadliest assassin on his lord's army, but talented fighters of all ages, genders, and styles can be found among the many factions.

To bring the world's dangers to life, the show employs many fight choreography stars from the Hong Kong kung fu film industry. The actors all attend an intense five-week fighting camp between seasons in order to pull off the amazing battle moves they're asked to perform.

"We just built on what we built from last season," Wu said of the fight camp. "So we took them to the level we got them to and brought it up a notch... It's very difficult to make someone look like a martial arts expert in a short amount of time."


Aramis Knight as M.K. on AMC's "Into the Badlands." AMC

The results can be found in the show's eye-popping fight scenes, which really can't be found anywhere else on TV. That's another reason Wu is so perplexed by the show's lack of awards attention.

"To me nowadays awards shows, there's so much politics and all kinds of other crap going on," he said. "I don't really care that much about it anymore. Especially when you get slighted in something like this. Of course, we have great costumes and great lighting, great camerawork, and all the kind of stuff that should get nominations too. But definitely the action is something different that you've never seen on TV before. To not get nominated for that was definitely a sour point in my mind. I'm speaking for myself."

Last year, the nominees for stunt coordination in a drama were "Game of Thrones," "Gotham," "Marvel's Daredevil," "Rush Hour," and "The Blacklist." "Thrones" ended up winning, a decision Wu understands. But like anyone with a fighting spirit, he would have loved to be in the ring.

"I think 'Game of Thrones' won for the 'Battle of the *******s' and I totally think they deserved it - that was amazing fight sequences - so grand and epic," he told us. "They should've won, but I think we should've been in contention."

[GeneChing]

Into the Badlands Emmy Snub and Hollywood’s Misunderstanding of Martial Arts Action



Yes. This is another post about Into the Badlands. Here are some other things I’ve written about the show.

Let me get right to it: the Emmys announced their nominations for 2018, and Into the Badlands was snubbed completely. Forget the fact that they have some of the most amazing, beautiful, and original costume, makeup, and overall character designs you’ll see anywhere. Or the fact that they have some incredible production design, set pieces, music, and cinematography. All of those areas – and more, like, you know, acting – would have been well-deserving for Into the Badlands to at the very least have earned a nomination, much less a win. And I’m sad that such an original, diverse, and engaging show, and all the incredibly talented people in front of and behind the scenes missed out on all that recognition.

But I cannot. For the life of me. Understand how it did not even earn a nomination for Stunt Coordination! The show’s lead, Daniel Wu, seems to share the same bafflement:

Here is the #Emmy list of nominees for Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie 2018. I started to write a long detailed post about this but decided to see what your responses are first. I understand we are a genre show but we should OWN this category!!!Why do you think this happened? Why do you think we get no love within the industry? Action Coordination is the obvious one but what about Costume Design? Set Design? Cinematography? #snubbed 😡🤬

A post shared by Daniel Wu 吴 彦 祖 (@thatdanielwu) on Jul 12, 2018 at 2:50pm PDT

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

So I’m writing this post to try to understand. And I have a few very frustrated thoughts.

Thought #1: Hollywood Does Not Understand Action

At least, not in the same way China and Hong Kong understand action: Chinese action emphasizes the on-screen performer’s actual physical abilities. Hollywood action emphasizes plot and editing. I’ve written about this Chinese approach before; an approach fully and faithfully undertaken with Into the Badlands. The first show of its kind – as far as I’m aware – to do so on American television.

Part of this disconnect has got to be cultural. The United States simply does not share the cultural richness of a martial arts tradition like the one we see in China and Hong Kong. China has kung fu and wushu more generally; epic stories told thousands of years ago with archetypical heroes we still see today; a Chinese operatic tradition that continues to impact modern day martial arts cinema – and Hollywood – aesthetics; as well as all kinds of intersecting values and ideals (such as those that define and evolve around ideas of masculinity, for example) that are organically integrated into their culture which find their roots in martial arts-related concepts. I think the closest thing the US/Hollywood has would be something like the Western? Maybe

Regardless, the simple fact is that – at least to most viewers primarily familiar with Hollywood film and television – the priorities and conceptual framework for action and stunt coordination are wholly different from those of Into the Badlands in particular, and Chinese martial arts more generally. Most viewers simply don’t know what they don’t know about the action they’re seeing on display in Into the Badlands.

I’m trying to think of an analogy, and I keep thinking about DJs. There are some people who ask “Do you know any DJs?” and what they’re looking for are the people who say “I’m a DJ,” but all they really do is show up at a party with their iTunes plugged into some speakers and play through a possibly personally curated list of tracks. And a lot of people are fine with that. And yes, we call that person a DJ. But that’s also not at all what a DJ is/can be. That’s how I’m feeling right now! Like someone just put out a list of “Outstanding DJs,” and the only people on that list are your neighbor Kevin and your kid’s friend’s dad Gary.

Thought #2: Coordination vs Choreography

I think there’s a difference between Coordination and Choreography, and perhaps part of the frustration of the snub comes from conflating the two. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Hong Kong Film Awards have an award titled “Best Action Choreography,” which has been given out since the 1980s. However, the category Into the Badlands would have most likely been nominated for is “Outstanding Stunt Coordination.” But the show does so much more.

Nearly every single show features stunts, as a glance through the list of nominees and winners for the award over the years clearly shows. That’s why a show like ER, House, or Malcolm in the Middle (yes, really) can get nominated for Stunt Coordination. Does a character need to fall on and break a dinner table? That’s a stunt. Does a character jump/get thrown through a window? That’s a stunt. Is there a dramatic scuffle that ends with someone tumbling down some steps? That’s a stunt. Is there an explosion of any kind? And are there any people nearby? Both stunts. And they all need to be coordinated! People with special skills and often hard-earned knowledge need to figure out a way to depict some kind of action on screen that will: keep all main performers as safe as possible from physical harm, be faithful to the script, fulfill the director and cinematographer’s demands, and ultimately look convincing/cool/entertaining/dramatic. That’s hard work, and I do not mean to in any way diminish the incredible work these men and women do! They should definitely be celebrated and receive critical acclaim.

However, if I were a betting man, I’d bet some of the greatest Hollywood stunt coordinators would have no idea how to stage, physically block, light, determine camera positions, or edit a martial arts sequence involving up to and over a dozen fighters, various actual and makeshift weapons, and/or shifting terrain. And that’s not a bad thing! It’s not their business to know that! BUT, those things do get at how I think Action/Stunt Choreography is somewhat different from Action/Stunt Coordination. There are definitely overlaps. But there are also ways in which they are uniquely different.

And what the amazing team on Into the Badlands accomplishes is nothing if not “uniquely different.” They train, they practice, they create wholly original sequences of physical movements that, among other things: can involve upwards of a dozen performers or more; has to play to the individual and unique strengths of the particular performer; creatively incorporates production design, set design, props, costumes, hair and makeup, as well as other elements of the filmmaking process into the action itself; moves the plot forward; showcases/reveals the particular qualities of the character fighting, which is related to but different from the strengths/qualitites of the performer portraying said character; and so. much. more.

Interestingly, the Emmys dohave an “Outstanding Choreography” category, but the nominees and winners are almost exclusively relegated to dance choreography. If you ask me, Into the Badlands actually belongs in this category as well, maybe even more so than Stunt Coordination. But I’m not sure that the Emmys are quite there culturally to accept that.

I wrote a paper back in my M.A. days discussing the similarities between the aesthetics of Chinese martial arts cinema and classic Hollywood musicals like Top Hat, Singin in the Rain, etc. And I think the comparison still holds true. I may need to revisit that as an upcoming blog post…

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[GeneChing]

Thought #3: Insider Advantage?

Hollywood awards shows have long been criticized for their self-celebratory nature, popularity contest nature, and their tendency to give in to industry politics over a product’s quality. But in my admittedly brief research for writing this, I did notice something. Marvel’s The Punisher was nominated for Stunt Coordination, with Thom Williams credited as the Stunt Coordinator. I did love that show, and the action coordination was good. But, again, wholly different from what Into the Badlands accomplishes every single week. Thom Williams is also one of the Board of Governors Stunt Representatives for the Television Academy, which hosts the Emmys. Is that ok? Is there not a conflict of interest there? Again, his work was awesome. But what gives? OR is there a Netflix advantage/love thing going on? Because apparently Luke Cage won this award last year for the show’s first season, which, as I recall, had pretty unoriginal – but still fun and well-made – action pieces. Siiiiiiigh, what is going on?!

Thought #4: Is the show ahead of its time? Aka #EmmysSoWhite

Yeah, I’m pulling the race card. What gives? It’s 2018, and Sandra Oh just became the first Asian actress nominated for a lead role in a drama series. Yes, that’s awesome and long overdue. But Into the Badlands has got to be one of – if not THE MOST – diverse show on American television right now. And I mean that in not only the incredible ethnic/cultural diversity of its cast, but also its creators, producers, and below-the-line workers. Not to mention the diversity of its aesthetics, if we want to go there. But maybe it’s too much for some. It’s hard not to recall the terribly racist treatment Bruce Lee received in the making of the 1970s American show Kung Fu. Lee acknowledged the industry execs’ concerns with casting an Asian lead in the 70s, when instead they cast David Carradine as a Shaolin monk. I mean, a thousand thank yous to the execs who greenlit Into the Badlands. But maybe too many people are not quite ready for it in 2018 either.

Best worst-case scenario prediction? The show gets canceled much too soon, but goes on to be understood, appreciated, and written about for what it is: a groundbreaking show on so many levels that will ultimately influence future shows in ways we can’t yet see. I know I will.

Blogger Munib Resaie makes some good points here.

[GeneChing]

A Superstar In China, Daniel Wu Emerges In His Native California

July 21, 20188:15 AM ET
CHLOE VELTMAN


Daniel Wu plays the starring role in the TV series Into the Badlands, and also serves as one of its executive producers.
Aidan Monaghan/AMC

In the dystopian AMC television action series Into the Badlands, Daniel Wu stars as a lethal warrior on a quest to discover the truth about his past.

Over two decades, the 43-year-old has played leading roles in everything from romantic comedies to kung fu costume dramas. He's become a celebrity across Asia. But Badlands is the first starring role in the United States for the California native.

"As a kid growing up in the '70s, '80s, as a person of color, I didn't see a future for that," Wu says. "In my field, there was a roadblock. And so, I basically had to go to Asia and get successful there in order to come back here to have success here."

This year, Hollywood blockbusters like The Mummy, Ready Player One and Transformers: The Last Knight have done better box office numbers in China than they have in the U.S, according to Box Office Mojo. That's part of the reason why Asian-American actors are starting to snag more leading roles in U.S. films like Crazy Rich Asians and in TV shows after decades of being sidelined in this country.

Daniel Wu is one of them.

Wu grew up in the Bay Area, the son of immigrants from Shanghai. He went to the University of Oregon, and thought he'd become an architect. But in 1997, after graduating, he traveled to Hong Kong, where he was randomly spotted in a bar by a talent scout for a TV commercial.

It just so happened that Hong Kong film director Yonfan caught the ad — and gave the chiseled 20-something his first big break. The director tapped the novice to star in Bishonen, his drama about an ill-fated gay romance. But there were some challenges.

"I've never acted before," Wu says. "And my Cantonese was not good at the time. So I turned it down."

Yonfan wouldn't let go.

"By the end I was like, 'OK, if you don't blame me for screwing it up, I'll give it a shot,'" Wu says.

That was the start of Wu's fast rise to stardom in China, though it didn't exactly happen overnight.

"I came to Hong Kong as a foreigner," he says. "Even though I'm the same skin color, same hair color, same culture, I was treated differently at first."

It took a couple years, but Wu says he was welcomed.

"These are my people, my own culture, and they're accepting me," he says. "I think that's the most touching thing that's happened to me."

Over the years, Wu says he returned to the U.S. for occasional, mostly disappointing, meetings with movie executives.

"They don't really know what they're looking for," he says. "They're just looking for someone Chinese, you know, or Asian."

But slowly Wu started to find opportunities. There was the American-Chinese co-production The Man with the Iron Fists, shot in China by the rap artist and and movie director RZA, who cast Wu in a small role. The RZA says he was surprised when his local crew saw Wu as the biggest celebrity on set.

"I'm telling you, nobody gave two cents' s*** about none of us," RZA says. "When Danny came on the set, everybody went crazy. And all of a sudden, I was making a movie."

These days, Wu is spending more time in California with his family. And after two decades of superstardom in China, Wu has finally landed a major role in the United States.

"It wasn't until Badlands came about that I really kind of moved back here, because there's a steady strong job," Wu says.

He trains at a gym near his home in Oakland. He needs to stay in shape for Into the Badlands *-- where he says he's been in more than 30 fight scenes in three seasons.

Wu says while he and a few fellow Asian-American actors are starting to get more lead roles in the U.S., there's still plenty of room for growth.

"It's still not at the point where I'd like it to be," Wu says. "But you know, I understand that it's a slow process. It's a transition."

THREADS:
Into The Badlands
The Man with the Iron Fists

[GeneChing]

Why It Took 20 Years for 'Into the Badlands' Actor Daniel Wu to Make It Here


California-born actor Daniel Wu at Caffe Strada in Berkeley on June 7, 2018. (Chloe Veltman/KQED)

In Asia, Daniel Wu says he can’t walk down the street without being mobbed by fans. "It's like Beatlemania," Wu says. "They want a piece of you."

But here in his native California, the Chinese-American movie star passes more or less unrecognized, even though he has more than 60 big screen credits to his name, including 2014 Chinese action thriller "That Demon Within" and "City of Glass." That film won Wu a "Best New Performer" nomination at the Hong Kong film awards back in 1998, when he was just starting out.

With Hollywood starting to pay more attention to long-sidelined Asian talent, Wu may not be able to lead a normal life in the U.S. for much longer.



These days, Wu stars in the dystopian AMC TV action series "Into the Badlands." It's his first major TV role in the U.S. His character, Sunny, is a lethal warrior on a quest to discover the truth about his past, and he gets into a lot of fights -- he estimates being involved in more than 30 skirmishes over the course of three seasons.

At 43, Wu is in fantastic shape: wiry and lean, with the chiseled features of a boy-band frontman. Even so, all those fight scenes take a toll on the body. The actor has dealt with a torn ACL and broken ankle over the years. He doesn’t want to end up like his mentor and former manager, Chinese action hero Jackie Chan.

"I didn't want to be that 60-year-old guy with, like, 'I can't stand up because my discs and my back are crushed,'" Wu says. "And that’s how Jackie is."

So lately, Wu's been changing up his training regimen.

continued next post to include videos.

[GeneChing]

At The Open Matt, a tucked-away dojo in Oakland near Wu's home, the actor practices acrobatic kicks up and down the room with his coach, Matt Lucas.

But they spend more time stretching and doing yoga than they do on hardcore fight moves. "In my 20s, kicking a hundred times was not a problem," Wu says. "In my 40s, it can be a problem. There's only so much tread on those tires, you know. So I'm doing it smarter."

Wu’s career path seems improbable when you consider his sheltered, middle-class, Bay Area upbringing. He shares his story during a tour of the UC Berkeley's East Asian Library, which recently acquired one of the country's most comprehensive archives of Chinese movie memorabilia, the Fonoroff Collection. (Wu is one of the library's new board members, and hadn't seen this collection yet. It includes posters and other artifacts relating to movies he appeared in during the 1990s, among nearly a hundred years of film history.)


A film poster for 'Young and Dangerous The Prequel,' one of Daniel Wu's early movies. (Photo: Courtesy of the UC Berkeley East Asian Library's Fonoroff Collection)

As we walk through the library, Wu tells me his highly educated, career-driven parents emigrated to the U.S. from Shanghai via Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1950s.

They had two girls, and then a son. But he died, tragically, at the age of two in an auto accident on the UC Berkeley campus.

"They were up at the Lawrence Hall of Science and he was hit by a car in the parking lot," Wu says.

Wu says his parents wouldn’t speak about his older brother, who died before he was born, for years. So when he came along, they were very protective.

"They would not let me play football," Wu says. "They would not let me do a lot of things that were dangerous, where I could get hurt. Of course, I go into martial arts. And then I'm an action star, where danger happens almost on a daily basis."

Wu's passion for martial arts stems from old kung fu movies he saw on TV as a kid.

One day when Wu was seven years old, his grandfather took him to San Francisco’s Chinatown to see the film "Shaolin Temple" starring Jet Li.

"It was just so exciting," Wu says. "I got home, and I was like, 'Mom, I want to learn kung fu!'”


Daniel Wu holds up a poster of one of his films while touring the Fonoroff Collection at UC Berkeley's East Asian Library. (Photo: Chloe Veltman/KQED)

His mom said no. But after a few years, she caved. From the age of 12, Wu trained locally. As an architecture major at the University of Oregon, he started a club focused on wushu, a non-combative style of kung fu. Wu is proud of the fact that the club he founded is still running today.

Then, in 1997, after graduating, Wu headed for Hong Kong to witness the handover from Britain to China.

He was having a drink in a Hong Kong bar about a month after the handover when a talent scout approached him about appearing in a TV commercial. Wu says he had already given up on a career in architecture, and besides, he needed the money.

"I was a poor student," he recalls.

It just so happened that Hong Kong film director Yonfan caught the ad and gave Wu his first big break. The director tapped the novice to play one of the leads in "Bishonen," his drama about an ill-fated gay romance.

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[GeneChing]

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x979im

Wu lacked fluency in Cantonese -- he grew up speaking Shanghai dialect and English at home in California. Plus, he had next to no acting experience. So he turned "Yonfan" down at first. But the director was persistent.

"By the end, I said, 'OK, if you don't blame me for screwing it up, I'll give it a shot,'" Wu says. "And then once I got on set the first day, I was like, 'Oh this is what I've been looking for.'"

Wu says it was initially hard for him to break in to the local film industry as an "ABC" -- American-born Chinese. "Even though I'm the same skin color, same hair color, same culture, I was treated differently at first," Wu says.

But after a couple of years, Wu says the Hong Kong film community fully accepted him. He went on to amass major celebrity, wealth and accolades across Asia for his work over two decades.

"You feel a sense of belonging; you feel wanted; you feel like you have value to these people and that what you're doing is making them happy," Wu says. "That's the most touching thing that's happened to me."

Eventually, Wu's name started to become known outside of China. At least, it did among kung fu cognoscenti like hip-hop artist and movie director RZA, who cast the actor in his martial arts film "The Man with the Iron Fists."

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[GeneChing]

RZA shot the movie in 2011 in China with a mixed cast of Asian and Hollywood actors. The project involved big names like Russell Crowe and Quentin Tarantino. But RZA says no one made as much of an impression on the set as Wu did.

"I'm telling you, nobody gave two cents **** about none of us," RZA says. "When Danny came on the set, everybody went crazy. And all of a sudden I was making a movie."

But Hollywood continued largely to ignore Wu. The actor says he returned to California for meetings with movie executives on occasion, and usually came away disappointed.

"They don't really know what they're looking for," he says. "They're just looking for someone 'Chinese' or 'Asian.' I'm not sitting in a room auditioning for a role that's just based on my race."

Recently, however, Wu says things have started to change, thanks to the dynamics of the marketplace. In addition to "Into the Badlands," Wu also appeared in the recent movie "Tomb Raider." That's because China has become a key financial market for Hollywood.


Daniel Wu at Caffe Strada in Berkeley. (Photo: Chloe Veltman/KQED)

Earlier this year, China beat North America in box office revenue for the first time, fueling expectations that it might soon become the world’s number one movie market. And according to IMDbPro’s Box Office Mojo, recent Hollywood blockbusters like "The Mummy," "Ready Player One" and "Transformers: The Last Knight" have done better box office in China than they have in the U.S.

Now, Wu says Hollywood is starting to take the talent pool more seriously after decades of offering Asian actors little more than minor, racially stereotyped character parts.

"They realize that the Chinese audiences are much smarter than that and get ****ed off when you do something like that to our beloved actors," Wu says. "And they won’t go see the movie."

Wu points to Sung Kang, known to audiences through "The Fast and the Furious" franchise, Daniel Dae Kim from the "Lost" TV series, and the "Harold and Kumar" films' John Cho as fellow Asian-American actors now making it in the U.S.

"All these guys have been working for so long and finally making it into shows," Wu says. "But it's still not at the point where I'd like it to be."


Daniel Wu and his trainer, Matt Lucas, work out at The Open Matt, a dojo in Oakland. (Photo: Chloe Veltman/KQED)

Wu says a new generation of Hollywood executives that grew up in a more multicultural environment than those previously in charge of the purse strings can now change casting dynamics for the better.

"With the people in power now having that exposure, they are consciously trying to make more diverse films," Wu says. "They're starting to bring in actors of different races and cultures."

Nice showcase for Matt Lucas. He deserves it.

THREADS (just this final post)
Into the Badlands
The Man with the Iron Fists

[GeneChing]

I have a nice interview with Sherman Augustus that I'll publish when the second part of Season 3 is telecast. Word is that might not happen until January of 2019.

Body and Soul
An actor who thrives on action, Sherman Augustus counsels kindness.
Mara Reinstein


Lewis Tan

There's a solid chance you don't remember the 1996 sci-fi film Space Marines.

But Sherman Augustus will always consider it a game-changer. On the set, noted fight coordinator Philip Tan approached the NFL player–turned-actor and encouraged him to pursue martial arts. He heeded the advice and became a black belt. "It centered me and made me more aware of my body," he says.

More than 20 years later, Augustus performs "75 to 85 percent" of his own action scenes on the third season of AMC's post-apocalyptic martial arts drama, Into the Badlands. His Nathaniel Moon, a badass with a mechanical hand, is aligned with the fierce assassin known as The Widow (Emily Beecham). The action in the next eight episodes "is bananas," he says. "There's a new threat, and none of the main characters are safe."

Growing up in central L.A., Augustus had such severe asthma he was afraid to leave home. His parents enrolled him in flag football "to get over my illness and conquer my fears.

Playing sports injected something into me," he says. Getting off the couch (where he was glued to The Beverly Hillbillies, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Green Hornet) and competing revitalized him. He eventually made the team at Northwestern College in Minnesota and went on to play pro ball — "a brief stint, blink and you'll miss it" — for the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers.

But he'd always wanted to act, so when a knee injury sidelined him, Augustus called agent James Bridges Sr. (the father of a childhood friend) and said he was ready to get serious. The former cornerback and safety took classes. Worked with teachers. Did five years of improv. Augustus landed his first role in the 1988 Dennis Hopper–directed cop drama Colors and has worked steadily ever since, in such series as NYPD Blue, NCIS, Dexter, Bones and Westworld.

Yet he singles out his experience as "Well Dressed Black Man" in 2001's The Mexican.

"That's when I knew I'd arrived," he says, citing the film's A-listers (Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, J. K. Simmons, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg). During an off day, he learned that costar James Gandolfini had called several agents to vouch for Augustus's talent. He recalls, "Jimmy told me, 'I've watched you rehearse. You're going to make it, dude. Just stick to your guns.' It resonated."

Now he's paying the good deed forward with aspiring actors. "If someone feels pent up against the wall, I say that you must dig down and find your guts," he says. "Nobody can deny you if you know your craft and believe in your ability. And if someone else blows it? Help out."

The first half of season three of Into the Badlands is available on AMC's on-demand platforms; seasons one and two are on Netflix and iTunes.

This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue No. 8, 2018

[GeneChing]

‘Into the Badlands’ & ‘The Son’ To End Runs On AMC, Set Premiere Dates For Final Episodes
by Nellie Andreeva
February 9, 2019 2:30pm


AMC Networks

AMC’s martial arts drama Into the Badlands will end after the upcoming final eight episodes of its third season, which will debut March 24. The network also has set an April 24 premiere date for Season 2 of drama The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan, which will be its last.

Neither cancellation is particularly surprising. Both Into the Bandlands and The Son were renewed for Season 3 and Season 2, respectively, almost two years ago. Into the Badlands’ 16-episode third season was completed awhile ago, the cast was released, and a number of them have taken on new acting gigs. As for The Son, as a Western, it did draw respectable viewership though it was old-skewing. Additionally, I hear star Brosnon only had signed a short-term contract which is the case with many movie stars who do TV series these days.


Photo Credit: Aidan Monaghan/AMC

Into the Badlands’ final 8 episodes will kick off on Sunday, March 24 at 10 PM, following a new episode of The Walking Dead. The series will then move to its regular time slot and will air Mondays at 10 PM, starting March 25.

As we enter the final chapter of Into the Badlands, an imprisoned Bajie warns Sunny that Pilgrim can’t be trusted. But with his son’s life on the line, Sunny struggles with his decision to help Pilgrim unlock the Meridian Chamber. Meanwhile, M.K., still reeling from the revelation that Sunny killed his mother, is hell-bent on revenge. Kidnapped by The Master, the Widow is forced to confront her past. Moon meanwhile races to save Lydia from impending death after she risked her life for his on the battlefield. As the last episodes unfold long buried secrets will be revealed, new alliances will be forged, and the saga will climax in an epic battle to end all battles.


Photo Credit: Aidan Monaghan/AMC

From AMC Studios, Into the Badlands was created by executive producers, showrunners and writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and is executive produced by Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg, along with David Dobkin, Stephen Fung, Michael Taylor, Karen Richards, Paco Cabezas and series lead Daniel Wu. The ensemble cast includes Wu (Sunny), Nick Frost (Bajie), Aramis Knight (M.K.), Emily Beecham (The Widow), Orla Brady (Lydia), Ally Ioannides (Tilda), Lorraine Toussaint (Cressida), Sherman Augustus (Moon), Babou Ceesay (Pilgrim), Ella-Rae Smith (Nix) and Lewis Tan (Gaius).

Based on Philipp Meyer’s best-selling and Pulitzer Prize finalist novel of the same name, season two of The Son concludes the journey of the iconic “First Son of Texas.” Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) will stop at nothing to secure his legacy against the backdrop of the nascent oil industry of 1917. His tools are deceit, fraud and murder — weapons he wields with the effortless skill of the Comanche warrior he once was. But the biggest challenge he faces will be quelling a civil war under his own roof, triggered by his idealistic son Pete (Henry Garrett). Eli knows the ultimate prize of American dynasty is nearly in his grasp, and time is running out. Meanwhile, in 1851, young Eli (Jacob Lofland) is now married and a respected warrior among the Comanches, but tragedy forces him into a leadership position as the vast Comanche empire crumbles around him. Broadening the scope, a 1988 timeline is introduced, bringing the McCullough saga into the more immediate past. Here, at age 85, Eli’s granddaughter Jeanne Anne McCullough (Lois Smith) is confronted with a long-buried family secret.

The Son is produced by AMC Studios and Sonar Entertainment. Showrunner and writer Kevin Murphy, director Kevin Dowling, author Philipp Meyer, and Sonar Entertainment’s Tom Lesinski and Jenna Santoianni are Executive Producers. In addition to Brosnan, Smith, Garrett and Lofland, the series also stars Paola Núñez, Zahn McClarnon, Jess Weixler, David Wilson Barnes, Sydney Lucas, James Parks, Elizabeth Frances, Shane Graham and Kathryn Prescott.

So saddened to hear that Into the Badlands wasn't renewed. Daniel Wu actually emailed me privately a week or so prior to the announcement to let me know.

[GeneChing]