Faithful readers of Kung Fu Tai Chi and KungFuMagazine.com understand our devotion to INTO THE BADLANDS. Not only is it the best martial arts driven show on TV, it's also inspired by a time-honored Kung Fu epic, one of the four great classics of Chinese literature, the 16th century novel, Journey to the West.
Granted, it's a very loose interpretation. Three of the main characters of INTO THE BADLANDS are influenced by the three main characters of Journey to the West. M.K. is the monk Xuanzang (M.K. is an abbreviation for "monk"), Sunny is the Monkey King (aka Sun Wukong) and Bajie is Pigsy (aka Zhu Bajie). In the Badlands, M.K. has a special power – dark chi – and everyone wants to capture and exploit him; but meanwhile, he's on a quest to find a mysterious land called Azra. In Journey to the West, Monk Xuanzang is so pure that eating him will grant immortality, so everyone wants to capture and exploit him; but meanwhile, he's on a quest to find the West and recover the Buddhist sutras. Xuanzang is based on an actual historical monk who lived from 602 to 664 CE, and travelled to India to bring the Buddhist sutras into China. The Monkey King is a badass trickster, the baddest on Heaven and Earth, and the whole story is a metaphor for his enlightenment. Sunny is a badass assassin, the baddest in the Badlands, and a major story arc is his quest for redemption. Sun is a surname and Wukong means "realizing emptiness." And Pigsy is a banished Heavenly Marshall, a fierce fighter whose lust for women and gluttony for food makes his character part every man, and part comic relief. Bajie is an excommunicated monk, also a fierce fighter with lusty gluttonous appetites. Zhu means "pig" and Bajie means "eight precepts," an allusion to the eight precepts of abstinence in Buddhism.
While there are other slight nods to the novel, that is really where the similarity ends. INTO THE BADLANDS charts its own course, unrestrained by any precedent work, whether it be the classic Chinese novel, a comic book, or a previous version of the show. In these days when so many scripted shows are sourced from graphic novels or are reboots of a show from decades ago, it's truly refreshing to watch a program that's so unabashedly original. As Season 3 is set to launch, we visited the cast on the set near Dublin, Ireland, and they brought us up to speed on their characters. SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the Season 2 finale, go back and watch that before reading this. Plus there's a few spoilers here for some big reveals in first episodes of Season 3, so be warned.
Aramis Knight on M.K.
Aramis Knight just finished shooting a fight scene in the massive indoor museum set in the INTO THE BADLANDS headquarters. He had to do a kip up for a fight scene and it's a tricky bit of choreography. We watched on the monitors as Knight did a few takes to get the timing and flow just right. When we meet up with him on his short break, he's still spattered with stage blood. But having caught his breath, he’s eager to chat about his character M.K. and his fate since Season 2. "Six months has elapsed," says Knight as he loosens his costume a bit to get more comfortable. "I’ve been with the Widow, trapped with the Widow, the whole time, so you can imagine the stuff she’s been putting me through, trying to get my dark chi back, trying to use me against everyone else, and really just trying to manipulate me. But we built this amazing set, which is basically this like grand sort of royal bedroom that the Widow built bars for, so it’s basically this like five-star holding cell, which actually makes perfect sense because M.K. is so valuable, you know? But also so dangerous. So it was cool to open up in that. You see M.K. doing things you don’t expect him to do."
As the central character in the Badlands, the veritable trigger to all of the conflicts in the previous two seasons, Knight has really grown into the character. From the naïve colt to a sort of "chosen one" empowered by dark chi, Knight has become much stronger physically during his third year of fight training, and his M.K. has matured too. "I think M.K. just starts making realizations," he adds. "Through Season 1 and 2, I think he’s been trying to figure out what happened, piecing it all together. And I think he thought he figured out what happened in Season 2, but then after an overdose, he figures out something different."
Daniel Wu on Sunny
Miles away at Ardmore Studios, in a smoke-filled warehouse set that offers little shelter against the bitter cold of the Irish winter, Daniel Wu makes a dramatic entrance amidst shafts of sunlight theatrically peeking through. Accentuating the haze, the frigid Dublin air converts each actor's lines into haunting vapor. A baby manikin is strapped to Wu's back, a prop for Sunny's son Henry whom he was left with at the end of last season with the shocking death of his lover Veil, as well as her captor, Sunny’s former tyrannical Baron Quinn. And if walking the road of vengeance with a baby strapped to your back isn't enough, Daniel teases a few other challenges for Sunny. There's some issue with Henry that must be resolved as Season 3 commences and there’s also a new nemesis, the Pilgrim (played by Babou Ceesay), who wields a new powerful force that everyone in the Badlands must reckon with. On top of that, there’s the escalating civil war between the Widow (Emily Beecham) and Baron Chau (Eleanor Matsuura) from last season, giving Sunny plenty to overcome.
Like any season finale cliffhanger, the cast was left broken up and spread across the Badlands. While taking a break between shooting dialogue in the frosty set, Wu tells us they get back on track quickly. "Yeah, yeah, we meet up. The first couple episodes is everybody kind of finding each other, and then pairing off into our groups that are going to be that way for the season. And then, we head off. I think by episode eight, the mid-break, characters come back together and deal with this force."
But even though Sunny is the lead character, his story arc is one of many within the Badlands. And like Wu explained, each season has a different theme. For this season, Wu says it's moving beyond the Badlands. "We definitely hit on the idea of Azra more. It went to the side last season, but it was still mentioned. But then Azra becomes a major major story point this season. It gets slowly revealed over the season what it actually is."
Nick Frost on Bajie
Unlike his castmates toiling on set, Nick Frost meets us after a photo shoot in the cozy warmth of a production office back at the Badlands headquarters. He's in costume, a sort of steampunkish post-apocalyptic Renaissance Faire ensemble, with an asymmetrical fur-covered sleeve. "This is my one furry arm," says Frost sarcastically. "This arm's really warm. This arm's cold. I don't know what the one bit's for. Shoulda gone two. Maybe they'll put it on in post."
When we left Bajie in the Season 2 finale, he had been stabbed and had just activated a mysterious machine. "He's alright now," assures Frost. "He heals really very quickly."
Bajie's introduction in Season 2 added some much-needed levity to the show. And while Frost's Bajie is very human and not the least bit porcine, the character carries the strongest resemblance to the original in Journey to the West. Frost admits to not having looked at that source material that closely, not beyond watching the popular Japanese TV version of Journey to the West that was dubbed and distributed across the U.K., Monkey Magic. Frost sees his character as more humanizing for the Badlands. "I think they're aware of Season 1 that it was very serious, and I think that's the nature of this kind of thing because it's kind of quest-y and everyone's got a job to do and you never see them going to have a haircut or where do these clothes get made? You know what I mean? So I think they needed a little bit of a lift and I knew what I was coming in for. Also it needed to be believable. He wasn't 'Here's Bajie doing a wise crack!' You know what I mean? I think that gets really boring really quickly as a device. And it gets old and people know it's coming. So I wanted him to be believable, you know what I mean? Not everyone in the Badlands – I mean, how many people do we know in the Badlands? Twenty? Twenty-five? You know, there are other people. I think there's a radio station. You know what I mean? Who drives the kids to school? If it's our society, then I think the characters in it need to reflect a cross-section of that society and I think Bajie is part of that in terms of he's a bit of a dick. He's got chlamydia. He drinks a lot. He likes prostitutes. He's a good man. It's a nice rounded person. And I think also what it did was it helped Sunny be more human too. I think people like that. We do a lot more of that in this season too, which is great, just to hang about and listen to Daniel growl at me every now and again."
But back to Season 3, Frost started to reveal some spoilers and then quickly took it somewhere else with that inimitable British wit. "Where does he pick up? There's been a gap. Tilda discovers Bajie in the back of a truck as a prisoner. There's quite a core reveal where she kind of falls through the roof of this truck and she's about to be killed and this big foot comes through the shot and knocks this guy out and pan up to see Bajie in chains again. I think I'm in chains a lot. It's a great look. It appeases my bear fans, who love a big guy in chains. Yeah. No, that won't go away. Just in a tiny leather thong. That's kind of a core reveal, him coming out of the shadows and, 'Hey, how are you?' This is a nice... It's a fun reveal. But I've got a great costume the first time you see me. I look like Willy Wonka. I don't know what they were thinking. I mean it's beautiful but it’s just so un-Bajie. Yeah, I felt like I was going to Frodo's wedding – the look that I've got."
Clearly Frost enjoys the role of Bajie. It's an excellent fit, given his big on-screen persona. "I've got to make out tomorrow with someone as well," confesses Frost with a smug grin. "Yeah. It's always quite nerve wracking, isn't it? Be a gentleman. My girlfriend's away and I haven't told her. I think it's best that way. Bajie does a lot of making out, which I kinda like. [laughs] No, I mean in terms of him being a big charismatic bear, he gets to fight and go off with women. I think it's perfect for Bajie."
And Friar Sand?
There was a fourth member of the quest in Journey to the West, Sha Wujing, or Friar Sand. His name translates as "Sand aware of purity" and he was sort of the comic foil, the none-to-bright straight man for Monkey and Pigsy's shenanigans. Will we see him join the quartet in Season 3? We do know that Moon (played by Sherman Augustus) is returning this season after his impressive appearance in one episode of Season 2. And Friar Sand's weapon was the Crescent Moon Monk Spade. Could Moon be Friar Sand? That's a stretch, like thinking the Widow was inspired by Journey to the West's Spider Demon. But, just as every chapter of Journey to the West ends, if you want to know, you’ll have to check out the next chapter.
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For more on Into the Badlands, visit the official website at amc.com/shows/into-the-badlands.
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