Cinemax’s “Warrior” arrived in late 2020 with an unusual degree of uncertainty surrounding its future. That was due to Cinemax ending production on original shows, leaving “Warrior” not cancelled but without an immediate home.
Fortunately, Warner Bros’ new streaming platform HBO Max was right there to give “Warrior” a landing strip, with season 3 greenlit in early 2021 to debut on HBO Max. “Warrior” season 3 officially entered production on July 19th, with the principal cast returning, and none other than the great Mark Dacascos joining the series!
As reported by Deadline, Mark and Chelsea Muirhead will join “Warrior” as season regulars in season 3.
Chelsea Muirhead will portray Yan Mi, a print shop owner’s daughter in the San Francisco Chinatown of the show’s setting. Mark Dacascos, meanwhile, will portray Kong Pak, said to be a mentor to Joe Taslim’s Li Yong and connected to the Long Zii Tong gang on the show.
“Warrior” is Part of Bruce Lee’s Legacy
To most avid viewers of “Warrior”, the show holds particular significance as having been originally conceived but ultimately unrealized by Bruce Lee in the years prior to his passing in 1973.
Bruce’s daughter Shannon Lee and former “Fast & Furious” director Justin Lin, were able to bring the once dormant series to life with Jonathan Tropper, with the show kicking off its first season in the spring of 2019.
Andrew Koji leads “Warrior” in the role Bruce would have taken on of ‘Ah Sahm’, who emigrates to San Francisco in search of his sister Xiaojing (Dianne Doan), now going by the name of Mai Ling.
His trek to San Francisco ultimately sees Ah Sahm become affiliated with the Hop Wei, entering the fray of San Francisco’s Tong Wars of the 1870’s.
“Warrior” is an Excellent Martial-Arts Western
In having the influence of Bruce Lee to live up to, “Warrior” did an outstanding job in its first two seasons with both its conflicts of the different Tongs and conflict between the Chinese and Irish communities of San Francisco, as well as its fantastic martial arts action scenes.
You’d surely expect nothing less than great fights with Joe Taslim of “The Raid” and “The Night Comes For Us” fame as one of the major players in the series.
Overall, “Warrior” has been a fantastic martial arts-driven series for the modern world and has helped launch Andrew Koji into mainstream recognition (which should hopefully continue ahead with his appearance in the upcoming ensemble action-comedy “Bullet Train”).
Mark Dacascos Makes a Solid Addition to “Warrior”
Martial arts fans know and love Mark Dacascos from many excellent fight-flicks like “Only the Strong”, “Brotherhood of the Wolf”, “China Strike Force”, and one of the best straight-to-video martial arts movies ever made, 1997’s “Drive”.
Mark also memorably portrayed Kung Lao in season 2 of “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”, the supernatural monk coming to the aid of Iko Uwais in “Wu Assassins”, and went head-to-head with Keanu Reeves in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”.
In every action role he’s tackled, Mark has enthralled viewers with his diverse emotional presence, fluid affability as well as his abilities as a hardcore martial artist, and he’ll doubtlessly be an outstanding new contributor to “Warrior”.
With “Warrior” season 3 officially underway, the return of the gripping, action-packed Western-kung fu combo is one martial arts fans around the world eagerly await, especially with Mark Dacascos now on-board to, (as he and Kadeem Hardison did in “Drive”) show everyone where the party’s at!
