Warrior

Plot

Set during the Tong Wars in late 1870s San Francisco, the series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China in search of his sister, only to be sold to one of the most powerful tongs in Chinatown.

Cast

Episodes

Production

In 1971, Bruce Lee developed a concept for a television series titled Ah Sahm, about a martial artist in the American Old West. However, Lee had difficulty pitching the series to Warner Bros. and Paramount. According to Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, Warner Bros. retooled and renamed Lee's concept into Kung Fu, starring David Carradine in the lead role. Warner Bros. stated that they had already begun developing a similar concept, created by writers and producers Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander, which was later confirmed by Fred Weintraub's memoir and Matthew E. Polly's authoritative biography. According to these sources, Bruce Lee was not cast in the lead role in part because of his ethnicity, but more so because of his accent.

In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, announced that the series would be produced and would air on Cinemax, and that filmmaker Justin Lin would serve as co-producer with Lee. Production began on October 22, 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa, at Cape Town Film Studios. The first season featured ten episodes and premiered on April 5, 2019.

Fight choreography was created by Brett Chan as the main stunt coordinator who is also the second unit director, with Johnny Yang and Jason Ng serving as assistant stunt coordinators. Both Chan and Yang are members of the Hitz International stunt team, though Nomad Stunts and Titan Stunts also performed choreography for the series.

On April 24, 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for a second season. It was Cinemax's final original series before ceasing production of original programming. In January 2021, both seasons began streaming on HBO Max. With the cancellation on Cinemax and the uncertainty of renewal, fans created a petition asking for a third season of the series. The petition received over 68,000 signatures as of April 2021.

On April 14, 2021, the series was renewed for a third season, along with the announcement that it would move to HBO Max. In an interview with The Ringer regarding the third season, showrunner Jonathan Tropper mentioned that "We like to pick historical events and then distill them through the Warrior prism into something that is still fact-based but doesn't become a documentary." Tropper further mentioned that prior to the series being renewed that "the interior sets are gone and have to be rebuilt". Production for the third season began on July 18, 2022, in Cape Town, and finished at the end of October 2022. The third season premiered on June 29, 2023. On December 18, 2023, Max canceled the series after three seasons.

Release

The first season premiered on Cinemax on April 5, 2019. The second season premiered on October 2, 2020. The third season premiered on Max on June 29, 2023.

International broadcast

In the United Kingdom, the first season premiered on June 25, 2019, on Sky One. The second season premiered on October 14, 2020. In Australia, the first season premiered on June 12, 2019, on Fox8. In Canada, both seasons are available for streaming on Crave. The third season premiered on Max on June 29, 2023, with three new episodes. In February 2024, all three seasons were made available to stream on Netflix.

Home media

The first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in October 2019.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 79% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though it often buckles under the weight of its lofty ambitions and ideological pedigree, Warrior's devil-may-care attitude provides thrilling energy and action that will please those looking for a period drama with a little kick." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone magazine named Warrior one of the best new television shows of 2019.

The second season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews with an average rating of 9/10.

The third season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10.

Ratings

As of April 2021, Warrior was ranked among the top 15 most viewed series on HBO Max.

Awards and nominations

Warrior was nominated for two Critics' Choice Super Awards at the 1st Critics' Choice Super Awards.

Historical references

Ah Toy is loosely based on the Chinese American madam Ah Toy.

Dylan Leary is loosely based on the California labor leader Denis Kearney.

Nellie Davenport is loosely based on the sex slavery abolitionist Donaldina Cameron.

Deputy Mayor Buckley is likely loosely based on late 19th- and early 20th-century San Francisco political boss Christopher Augustine Buckley.

In the first episode, the names of two police officers, Stone and Keller, are mentioned as potential members of the Chinatown task force. Lieutenant Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller were the lead characters during the first four seasons of the police drama series The Streets of San Francisco.

The riot in the second season is largely based on the real-life Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871 and the San Francisco riot of 1877, both part of the larger historic anti-Chinese violence in California.