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Warrior (TV series)

Warrior is an American martial arts crime drama television series that premiered on April 5, 2019, on Cinemax. It is based on an original concept and treatment by Bruce Lee, and is executive-produced by his daughter, Shannon Lee, and film director Justin Lin. Jonathan Tropper, known for the Cinemax original series Banshee, is the showrunner.

In April 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for a second season which premiered on October 2, 2020. It was Cinemax's final series before ceasing production of original programming. In April 2021, the series was renewed for a third season, along with the announcement that the series would move to HBO Max, later rebranded to Max. The third season premiered on Max on June 29, 2023. In December 2023, the series was canceled after three seasons.

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

Main

Andrew Koji as Ah Sahm, a Chinese martial arts expert from Foshan who travels to San Francisco in search of his elder sister, Xiaojing, who emigrated years prior.
Olivia Cheng as Ah Toy, a madam who runs a brothel in Chinatown and is adept at wielding the dao.
Jason Tobin as Young Jun, Father Jun's son and successor who befriends Ah Sahm and is skilled with throwing knives.
Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, the wife of Long Zii, the head of the Long Zii Tong. Formerly known as Xiaojing, she is Ah Sahm's elder sister who fled China to escape her abusive husband, the warlord Sun Yang, whom she was forced to marry to save her brother's life. She acts as the de facto leader of the Long Zii.
Kieran Bew as Bill "Big Bill" O'Hara, an Irish police officer promoted to lead the Chinatown squad. He is former friends with Dylan Leary, as both men were Union soldiers during the American Civil War. Due to his gambling problems, he is often in trouble with both the Chinese and Irish gangs.
Dean Jagger as Dylan Leary, an American Civil War veteran, labor unionist, and leader of the Workingmen's Party of California. He loathes the Chinese, whom he blames for taking away jobs that he believes are meant for the Irish.
Joanna Vanderham as Penelope Blake (seasons 1–2), the wife of Samuel Blake, the mayor of San Francisco. She and her husband do not get along, as she only married him to save her father's failing business. She later falls in love with Ah Sahm after he saves her life.
Tom Weston-Jones as Richard Henry Lee, a new police officer from Savannah, Georgia. He is disliked by his Irish colleagues, who are Union veterans, due to his family having fought for the Confederacy. Despite being from the South, he is much more racially tolerant compared to his peers.
Hoon Lee as Wang Chao, a black market salesman who acquires various contraband for the Tongs and the San Francisco police. Because of his connections, he is free to travel throughout all of the Tongs' territories and even serves as a mediator between them. It is later revealed that he was enslaved for a time in Cuba.
Langley Kirkwood as Walter Franklin Buckley, the Deputy Mayor of San Francisco who secretly conspires with Mai Ling to start a gang war between the Hop Wei and the Long Zii.
Christian McKay as Samuel Blake (seasons 1–2), the Mayor of San Francisco and Penelope's husband. Despite espousing anti-Chinese views to gain the support of his constituents, he secretly frequents Ah Toy's brothel to be serviced by both male and female Chinese prostitutes.
Perry Yung as Father Jun, the leader of the Hop Wei Tong and Young Jun's father.
Joe Taslim as Li Yong, a skilled martial artist who serves as the Long Zii's chief enforcer. He is Ah Sahm's main rival and Mai Ling's lover.
Dustin Nguyen as Zing (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), the new leader of the Fung Hai Tong and Mai Ling's ally.
Céline Buckens as Sophie Mercer (season 2), Penelope's reckless younger sister who seeks to gain Leary's attention.
Miranda Raison as Nellie Davenport (seasons 2–3), a wealthy widow who owns a large vineyard in Sonoma that offers asylum to Chinese migrants, particularly prostitutes. She later becomes romantically involved with Ah Toy.
Chen Tang as Hong (seasons 2–3), an abrasive, young new recruit brought over from China as part of reinforcements for the Hop Wei. He quickly befriends Young Jun and Ah Sahm when they come to his defense after he is ridiculed for being homosexual. He often fights with a chain that he wears as a necklace.
Maria-Elena Laas as Rosalita Vega (season 2), a resilient Mexican woman who runs illegal fighting tournaments on the Barbary Coast, which Ah Sahm frequents.
Chelsea Muirhead as Yan Mi (season 3), the daughter of a printing shop owner, who seeks to settle her father's debt to the Hop Wei by aiding Ah Sahm.
Mark Dacascos as Kong Pak (season 3), the former leader of the Jiang Yao Tong, which is assimilated into the Long Zii, and an old friend of Li Yong.
Adam Rayner as Douglas Strickland (season 3), a railroad baron who receives a contract from the U.S. government to build on Nellie's land.

Recurring

Rich Ting as Bolo (season 1), a former railroad worker ("coolie") turned underground fighter who was saved by Father Jun. He serves as the Hop Wei's primary muscle and assassin.
Henry Yuk as Long Zii (season 1), the elderly leader of the Long Zii tong and Mai Ling's husband.
Robert Hobbs as Stone, a police officer under Bill's command as part of the Chinatown Squad.
Jacques Bessenger as McLeod (seasons 1–2), another of the police officers in the Chinatown Squad.
Nicholas Pauling as Harrison, another of the police officers in the Chinatown Squad.
David Butler as Russell Flanagan (seasons 1–2), San Francisco's chief of police.
Graham Hopkins as Byron Mercer (season 1), Penelope and Sophie's father and the owner of a steel mill.
Kenneth Fok as Jacob (seasons 1–2), Penelope's loyal Chinese manservant.
Emily Child as Lucy O'Hara, Bill's wife and mother of their children.
Brendan Sean Murray as Jack Damon (season 1), an Irish debt collector working for the Fung Hai.
Jenny Umbhau as Lai, a young girl from the Shandong province who aids Ah Toy on her missions. Like Ah Toy, she is skilled with the dao.
André Jacobs as Lymon Merriweather (season 2; guest seasons 1, 3), a wealthy businessman who frequently deals with the Mayor.
Martin Munro as Leonard Raice (season 2; guest seasons 1, 3), a corrupt reporter with ties to Buckley.
Frank Rautenbach as Leonard Patterson (season 2; guest season 1), Ah Toy's business partner who serves as her frontman when purchasing land
Gaosi Raditholo as Abigail (season 3; guest season 2), an African American bartender who seduces and drugs Lee, and becomes romantically involved with him later on.
- Raditholo also plays Nora (seasons 1–2), Lee's deceased lover from Georgia.
Nat Ramabulana as "Happy Jack" (season 3; guest season 2), the African American leader of a drug trafficking ring on the Barbary Coast who enters into a partnership with Young Jun and Ah Sahm.
Neels Clasen as Benjamin Atwood (season 3), the ruthless new police chief from New York City and a former Union Army Colonel.
Sean-Marco Vorster as Stewart Gumm (season 3), Buckley's conniving campaign manager and right-hand man.
Jazzara Jaslyn as Eliza Pendleton (season 3), a wealthy socialite who befriends Mai Ling.
Kevin Otto as Horace Clark (season 3), Bill's brother-in-law who owns a successful cement factory.
Gary Young as Yichèn (season 3), Yan Mi's sick father and the owner of a printing shop who is in debt with the Hop Wei.
Angelo Chen as Zimo (season 3), Yan Mi's brother who works with his father in a printing shop.
Nick Cordileone as Edmund Moseley (season 3), a special agent in the Secret Service tasked with hunting down stolen printing plates.
Telly Leung as Marcel (season 3), a nightclub singer who Hong becomes enamoured with.
Colin Moss as Franklin Thayer (season 3), Buckley's political rival in the San Francisco mayoral campaign.
Dominique Maher as Catherine Archer (season 3), a political booster who seeks to support Buckley's campaign.
Sizo Mahlangu as Isaac (season 3), Happy Jack's right-hand man.

Guest

Christiaan Schoombie as Harlan French (season 1), the leader of a gang of bandits.
C. S. Lee as Lu (season 1), a former coolie and co-owner of a saloon that Ah Sahm and Young Jun take shelter in.
Erica Wessels as Billie (season 1), Lu's wife and co-owner of their saloon.
Andrew Stock as Father Flynn (season 1), a priest who helps defend Lu's saloon from bandits.
Rachel Colwell as Wankeia (season 1), a Native American prostitute Young Jun falls in love with.
Patrick Baladi as Robert Crestwood (seasons 1–2), an anti-Chinese Senator who seeks to become president.
Lim Yu-Beng as Zan (season 1), a slaver who sells Lai to Ah Toy.
Henry Kwok as Lao Ting (season 1), a Chinese businessman who ships people from China to the US.
James Lew as Li Qiang (season 1), a kung fu Sifu who trained Ah Sahm in his youth.
Michelle Allen as Claire (season 2), a prostitute and the mother of Wang Chao's illegitimate daughter.
Emmanuel Castis as Clyde Nichols (seasons 2–3), an ex-Pinkerton agent hired by Mai Ling to gather information on Buckley.
Paolo Wilken as Lao Che (season 2), the leader of the low-level Suey Sing Tong.
Conor Mullen as Elijah Rooker (season 2), a rich business tycoon and owner of Rooker's Mill, a border town where he hosts fighting tournaments.
Michael Bisping as Dolph Jagger (season 2), an aggressive fighter who participates in the tournament at Rooker's Mill.
Maria Elisa Camargo as Marisol Rooker (season 2), Elijah's wife and, secretly, Rosalita's sister.
Christos Vasilopoulos as Smits (season 2), Rooker's head of security.
Brad Kelly as "Cleaver" (season 2), one half of a hitman duo that Patterson hires to kill Ah Toy.
Jason William Day as "Hammer" (season 2), the other half of the hitman duo that Patterson hires.
Patrick Buchanan as Tully (season 2), an Irishman who leads an angry mob on a rampage in Chinatown.
Trevor Ou Tim as Wu Jin (season 3), one of the elder councilmen in the Long Zi.
Morné Visser as Killy Donahue (season 3), the father of Conor and Garrett who asks Leary to bail out his sons.
Matthew Vey as Conor Donahue (season 3), a young Irish worker, who gets into trouble with his brother.
Ross van der Walt as Garrett Donahue (season 3), a young Irish worker and Conor's brother.
Brett Chan as Muchen (season 3), the leader of the low-level Three Brothers Tong, who refuses to assimilate into the Long Zii.
Jandre Le Roux as Shaw (season 3), Strickland's bodyguard and right-hand man.
Armand Aucamp as Bernard Pendleton (season 3), Eliza's rich husband who works for the Bank of California.
Chris Mark as Sicheng (season 3), a Chinese immigrant held for deportation, whom Young Jun has an encounter with.
Charlie Bouguenon as Lukas (season 3), a German gangster and an old associate of Father Jun who uses Chinese labor to harvest silver.
Francois Coetzee as Christoph (season 3), Lukas's brother and vicious right-hand man.
Shannon Lee as Wen (season 3), a Chinese laborer in Lukas's camp along with her son.
Sven Ruygrok as Carter (season 3), Lee's kind-hearted cousin.
Julian Place as Bo (season 3), Lee's vengeful cousin.
Patricia Boyer as Violet (season 3), Lee's aunt who seeks vengeance from him for killing her sons.
Jason Wong as Ming Yu (season 3), the owner of a brothel under Long Zi protection, who wants to regain his prostitutes that were previously liberated by Nellie.

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2020)

Season 3 (2023)

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 officially move to HBO Max. 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 10 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.