Warrior producers talk ‘bolder’ season 3 with a new action star, new network

The third season of Max’s thrilling martial arts drama warrior premieres this week and there’s an exciting new face in the cast: martial arts movie (en Iron boss) legend Mark Dacascos. Dacascos plays Kong Pak, the charismatic leader of a rival Tong who is absorbed by the powerful Long Zii.

warrior has no shortage of skilled martial artists in its cast, from hard-working star Andrew Koji to former Indonesia national judo team athlete Joe Taslim (whose skills are also on display in The night is coming for us And The robbery). But Dacascos adds another dimension, as an extremely skilled martial artist who also brings a sweet, easygoing energy to each role.

“If we bring someone in to be an opponent of one of these guys, they can’t just act,” says co-creator and executive producer Jonathan Tropper. “They also have to look credible as an opponent of these guys.

“We want people who we know will hold their own and uphold the extremely high level of martial arts action that we do on the show.”

Dacascos seems like an obvious choice, but his casting was a happy coincidence.

“I didn’t think for a second we’d be able to catch Mark Dacascos,” says Tropper. Lucky, Dustin [Nguyen, an actor and director on Warrior] did an off-season movie with him and said, “He loves the show, you should call him,” and boom!

That movie was Sword of the 47 Ronina direct-to-Netflix sequel to the 2013 Keanu Reeves movie 47 Ronin. Directed by veteran stunt professional, actor and martial artist Ron Yuan, the film stars YouTuber Anna Akana and rising martial arts star Mike Moh alongside Dacascos and Nguyen.

As it flew under the radar on release, Sword of the 47 Ronin was lauded by those I follow in the action movie community, and they were right to do so: It’s light-hearted, fun action fare, with balletic swordplay, a charismatic cast, and a nice twist on the “unconventional Chosen One” story. It felt right in line with warriorwho shares a meaty action vibe (albeit in a very different time period), his own “Chosen One” story, and, of course, multiple members of the great Sword of the 47 Ronin cast, now including Dacascos.

Image: Universal 1440 Entertainment

The addition of Dacascos isn’t the only big change for it warrior this season, as the show finally moves from Cinemax to Max. In January 2020, Cinemax announced it would cease production of original content, which seemed to spell the end of the road for warrior, even when the show’s first two seasons were added to Max. But then Max announced it would pick up the show’s third season, bringing new opportunities — and obstacles — for the crew.

“It was a unique challenge, because we sort of lost our sets, our costumes, and our props,” says executive producer Evan Endicott, promoted to co-showrunner for the third season. “And we had to do another season 1, but with more ambition, more scope, more of everything. But they were just very supportive. I think they are true fans of the show. And that made our lives a lot easier.”

“They were constantly encouraging us to try and swing for the fences, get bigger, get bolder,” says executive producer Josh Stoddard, promoted with Endicott to co-showrunner. “I think we all had to sleep for about three months after we finished.”

That is an energy of both warrior And Sword of the 47 Ronin sharing — making the most of the limited resources at their disposal to prioritize exciting, readable action with charismatic, attractive people. In both projects you feel the passion and dedication on screen, but also how much fun it must have been to make throwback genre for a modern audience.

That modern audience is more likely to catch on warrior as the first two seasons were added to HBO Max in January 2021. With the third season arriving around the same time as the platform’s rebranding to Max, the producers hope the show can capitalize on that momentum and reach even more people.

“We are already becoming aware of a much larger audience,” says Tropper. “We already know that we are reaching many more people than before. And the hope is that that will lead to the show getting a much larger fan base, which will allow us to make more seasons.

For now, fans will have to make do with the first three seasons of warriorand together with Tropper hope that a fourth gets the green light from the new network. warrior Season 3 premiered June 29 on Max with three new episodes. Sword of the 47 Ronin to be seen on Netflix.