The first time of year of AMC ’s Into the Badlands is already almost over — the ( hopefully very bloody ) season coda is Sunday . We verbalise to asterisk Daniel Wu and showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar about what we can expect .
Gough and Millar , a long collaborating team of writers and producers who worked on Lethal Weapon 4 , Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Nights , dub Badlands their “ passion project . ” They wanted to lend martial artwork back to American TV , and they wanted to create a unparalleled universe that ’s an amalgam of their favored thing .
“ AMC was the only situation we pitched the show , ” Gough says . “ An hour later on , they called and said , we want it . ”
to begin with , Wu was just suppose to be an executive manufacturer . When it came time to pick a lead , they were all like — Oh yeah ! There ’s a guy wire sitting in this room who ’s a legit soldierly arts machine ! And then Wu ( who has starred in score of activity flicks in China and Hong Kong ) was cast as unstoppable bravo Sunny .
Wu is direct in Shaolin kung fu , wushu , muay thai , and points out that not all player in soldierlike humanities movie are all black belts or something . Despite being the only Badlands casting extremity with a significant amount of warriorlike arts training , he allege if you ’re a hard proletarian and have decent gymnastic power , that ’s all you require . ( You also call for a stunt double — Wu indicate out that all the greats , include the Badlands cast , defers to stunt look-alike for specially knobbed moves that could break someone ’s cervix and put them out of charge for two seasons . )
The cast of Wu also marks something that ’s so needed , but still frustratingly rare , on American telecasting : an Asiatic track . Back in the ‘ 70 on Kung Fu — arguably the last show in the US to put martial arts at the forefront — the 100 % livid David Carradine was cast to dally the half - white , half - Taiwanese Shaolin Thelonious Monk , Kwai Chang Caine .
“ I ’m really proud this show is breaking boundaries like that , but not intentionally , ” Wu says . “ cheery could aboveboard have been anything : black , white , latino . It just happens to be that the lead is Asian - American . It ’s really much more interesting to me to say , ‘ lease ’s just make a coolheaded show with a nerveless character . ’ ”
Badlands take place post - apocalypse , though we ’re still not precisely sure what happened . What we do get laid is that there was some cataclysm that really happened in the real world — the real world as we do it it — as evidenced by relic and references : Tilda come up a snowglobe from Hawaii in a box full of artifacts , there are mentions of the Bible and The Cat in the Hat , and a plastic toy dog soldier grant gay an interview with the River King , like it ’s care for as an icon .
Beyond that , we do n’t get any more background signal . Not even the characters seem to roll in the hay what the hell happened . That ’s designed .
“ For us , it was authoritative that whatever pass off happened so long ago that people do n’t really verbalise about it , ” Gough says . It ’s like how “ we see the Pyramids , but we ’re not quite certain what happened . ”
Gough and Millar say that it might not have even been one affair , but an apocalyptical cocktail of threats like clime change , terrorism , and other modern - Clarence Day death knell : “ If they all ever merge , it ’d take to this hatful extinction event , ” Gough says .
And now we have the Badlands . The team also did n’t require to present this post - doomsday Earth as a dusty , sorry wasteland , but not as Blade Runner cyber nightmare , either . rather , we have this lush , Louisiana backdrop , pepper with residuary southerly culture , like grand plantations , jar with the bloody , blade - take battles the show ’s becoming known for . Also woven into the atmosphere is pre - Industrial Revolution technology and Asian - instigate village full of craftspeople and traveler in streets that resemble honest-to-god China or feudal Japan . The showrunners say that feudalistic Japan also charm the societal structure of the world , with baron as shogun , Clippers as samurai , and Nomads as ronin .
“ We ’re devotee of Kurosawa and Japanese samurai movies , ” Millar says . “ We liked the idea of using that as a modeling of society , and placing [ Badlands ] there . ”
Gough and Millar also confirmed that the show actually ask blank space in what used to be the United States . “ We wanted you to make love that it ’s in [ what used to be ] America , ” Gough explains . “ It ’s a soldierlike liberal arts show , but we did n’t want it to be this foreign concept , in some foreign land somewhere . ”
Which is part of why the odd juxtaposition and mash - up of genres , cultures , mise en scene and prison term geological period make for such an interesting show . Wu agreed that the “ weird phantasy world”—one that blend a traditional martial arts drama , a dystopian hereafter , and an American setting — is part of what make Badlands so special .
What can we expect for Sunday night ? A huge cliffhanger , Wu says : “ The next episode is definitely croak to leave hoi polloi like , ‘ What the fuck is gon na happen now ? ”
Gough says “ You ’ll definitely get the first coup d’oeil of what could be beyond the Badlands ” in the time of year finale . “ In time of year two , you will see a muckle more of the Badlands , and the geographics will start to be answered . ”
And what of season two ? ( Please please please let there be season two . ) No prescribed word from AMC yet , buuuuuut … Says Gough : “ The web is really happy with the show . ” And Wu : “ We ’re expect a gullible light . ”
picture : James Minchin III / AMC
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