Will the 'Netflix Effect' Bring Us More 'Warrior'? (Updated with More Interviews)
The thrilling action drama drops on Friday and here's what the cast says you can do to help make some noise the streamer can't ignore.
[Updated on March 12, 2024 with my zoom interview with cast members Dianne Doan, Joe Taslim and Langley Kirkwood. Scroll to bottom of the story. Enjoy!]
Updated on February 17, 2024 with additional zoom interviews with cast members…I figured if I kept them all on one post then readers can enjoy them all.]
A junket to support a show I’ve personally loved over its three seasons? Hell yes! Here’s the first in a series of zoom interviews I did last week with the cast of Warrior, which began airing all three kick-ass seasons (30 episodes!) on February 16 on Netflix.
First up is my zoom interview with stars Hoon Lee (Chao), Tom Weston-Jones (Lee) and Kieran Bew (Big Bill). Keep scrolling for the new interview with Andrew Koji (Ah Sahm), Jason Tobin (Young Jun) and Chen Tang (Hong) and more are coming soon.
As a TV journalist, there are shows I watch for work and then there are those I watch for my own entertainment. Warrior is a little bit of both. I have covered the show in the past but once those interviews were behind me, it was a show I couldn’t quit because the world that creator Jonathan Tropper created from the writings of martial arts icon Bruce Lee is, to say the least, a captivating one.
Set in San Francisco in the late 1870s, the series follows the skilled and stoic marital arts expert Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) and his experiences during the Tong Wars while he’s in search of his missing sister. He quickly meets other members of the Tong and gets drawn into the power-plays, sucked into some very impressive fight scenes (the show is next level whether it’s a one-on-one fight or a group) and, of course, there’s also room for romance along the way.
Besides the captivating Koji, the series also boasts one of the best ensembles on television today with Hoon Lee (Chao), Dianne Dion (Mai Ling), Olivia Cheng (Ah Toy), Kieran Bew (Big Bill), Tom Weston-Jones (Lee) and Jason Tobin (Young Jun). Some shows are fine to disappear after a few seasons. Warrior is not one of those shows.
If you aren’t familiar with the drama’s trajectory, a little history. Warrior premiered in 2019 on Cinemax and immediately drew a rabid, devoted following. Season two followed on the streamer in 2020, which was rebranded as Max by the time the third season (delayed due to COVID) aired in the summer of 2023. As a regular viewer, the show only got better season by season but despite that and the loyal fanbase, Max canceled Warrior in December. Unacceptable!
We’ve seen the Netflix-effect impact shows from helping make Breaking Bad a huge hit to more recent examples of shows like NBC’s Manifest, which found new life once its episodes started airing on the streamer. And would the new Suits: LA series have happened if the 2011-19 legal drama Suits (which originally aired on the USA Network) hadn’t blown up when the entire series was added to Netflix? Could the same happen with Warrior and what can you, the viewer, do to help?
During the junket, I talked with multiple groups of cast members and will be posting them over the next week. First up, Lee (Chao), Bew (Big Bill) and Weston-Jones (Lee) talk about how important airing on Netflix could be for the show, what they’d like to see in a possible fourth season, why Lee says this is the best job he’s ever had as a performer and, lastly, they each gave me the perfect word to describe Warrior for people who have never watched.
Check out the video above and outside of watching all three seasons of the show and giving it a double thumbs up on your app (it helps, really!), make some noise by telling friends and posting on social media for people to watch. Be sure to tag #Netflix!
Here’s the additional interview with Dianne Doan, Joe Taslim and Langley Kirkwood who talk power, love and filming those touch fight scenes for spectators and participants:
All three seasons of Warrior are available now on Netflix! Watch, make some noise and let’s hope for a Season 4.
I love you guys so much best show ever fr ❤️ brilliant work everyone