I’m very proud that we’re diverse without having talked about “diversity.” Like, these characters, Sunny and Veil — that relationship — a black woman and an Asian man. You’ve never seen that on anything in the world ever actually before. I think it’s very cool that we’re just people in love. We’re not a black person or Asian person. We’re just people in love. We’re trying to have this baby. It’s very cool. I’m proud of that. We’re being diverse without raising a diversity flag, because that’s not what the show is about. Again, what we’re trying to do is make a good show and if it happens to be diverse. Those are great bonuses to jump along with, but that shouldn’t be the catalyst for the show. That shouldn’t be what makes the show run.
Director and stunt woman extraordinaire Lexi Alexander has highly praised Into the Badlands as a whole. Many of the cast and creatives have also interacted with her on Twitter. Is there any chance of a collaboration with Into the Badlands or even outside of the series?
Yeah, I think we’re open to all kinds of possibilities for our show, especially with television directors. We switch out directors every two episodes. So with a ten-episode season, that means there are five directors per season. So there’s a lot of opportunities to work with great people. So if they’re a good storyteller, then I’m definitely open to the fact to bring them in.
Into the Badlands has been praised for its strong female characters. Aside from Veil, there were few WOCs on the show last season, but this year we have The Master and Baron Chau. Was it a conscious decision to include more WOC characters?
I would say it was a conscious decision to add more characters of color, I think, to be more diverse. Yeah. So you see it this season in the first episode, you see a lot of the Butterflies in the background, there’s all kinds of girls there. That is a conscious decision to reflect upon what we think American society would be in the future and what it is now. I think most people, when you talk about the post-apocalyptic genre, it’s not really about the future, it’s reflecting on what’s happening right now. So, to reflect on now, you have to be true to that. So, we definitely made the decision to cast more diverse with all the roles, whether it’s female or male. You’ll see the other barons. There are a few other barons that are different races and different sexes. We’re trying to make a world that everyone can understand and relate to.
In an article last year, you made a statement that you would have to wait a bit to see what impact Into the Badlands has made for people, whether it’d be in the Asian American community or the martial arts world. Since this is the second season, and it has been highly praised, what impact do you feel the series has made?
I mean, I think we made a little blip on the pop culture meter for sure. I mean, in multiple levels. One, we have a martial arts show that is successful on television right now. There aren’t many martial arts shows, so that was one of our main points. Then secondly, to have the action lauded as it is. People love the action. People come back for the action. Then to have a great story that happens to be with a very diverse cast. That’s also a great thing that people are in to. There are characters that people can get into, whether you want to follow Sunny’s storyline or not. Some people just like the Widow. The #ColorMeBadlands Twitter people just love Sunny and Veil and that relationship. So that’s what I think is great about the show.
It doesn’t just follow one person or one storyline. There are multiple storylines. As an audience, if you’re a teenager or a twelve-year-old, you might be really into MK and Tilda and their storyline. If you’re a full grown adult, you might be into the Sunny storyline. You might be into Quinn’s storyline. There are so many different things there for everyone to relate to. Then, [you’ll see] what these characters and storylines represent in the real world. What are they trying to say? And, that’s all in the subtext. I think we slide all that stuff in there for the audience trying to figure out what we’re talking about. You’ll see references. You’ve seen episode two with the wall. There are all these references that we’re talking about and we’re putting them in there as kind of Easter eggs, but also to get people thinking a bit more. This is a show about the future and about how the world got ****ed up and how it ended up this way. We’re putting in things about how that happened. You have to be careful as a human race, as Americans, and how we run this country in the future. It could end up like the Badlands and we don’t want that to happen.
It’s almost time to wrap up, but what can you tell us more about your role in the new Tomb Raider film starring Alicia Vikander since you’ve entered production for the film?
I can’t talk too much, but the character is named Lu Ren. Lara Croft comes to Hong Kong after she finds some clues about [her father]. It’s an origin story, so it goes back to the very beginning before she becomes Lara Croft: Tomb Raider that you know from the game. She’s looking for her dad. The story is that her dad has disappeared for seven years. She thinks he’s dead, but she finds some clues [showing] that he may still be alive. That leads her to Hong Kong and that’s where she finds me and enlists me to help her along this journey to go to this place where her father might be. So I’m there to help her along with her journey.
Is there a potential love interest or friendship?
It’s more of a partnership because there is something that I’m also looking for as well. I wouldn’t say it’s a love relationship. It’s more of a partnership.
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