All three seasons of Warrior are now streaming on Netflix! Depending on how good the ratings are during the first 14 days, Netflix will decide whether to produce a fourth season. If you already watched S1-S3 when they originally aired on Cinemax/HBO Max/Max, now is the time to do a rewatch! If you have never watched the show because you didn’t have the pay channel where it aired, now is the time to watch it for the first time!
Warrior is set in late 1870s San Francisco and follows the story of a man who emigrates from China in the hopes of finding his sister. The story is based on an original concept by Bruce Lee and the show is executive produced by his daughter Shannon Lee. In 1971, Bruce Lee developed a concept for a television series about a martial artist in the American Old West, which he pitched to Warner Bros and Paramount. The next year, Warner Bros produced the show Kung Fu starring David Carradine as the half-Chinese character (Bruce Lee auditioned for the lead role but the studio was reluctant to hire a Chinese actor, had concerns with his accent and intense personality, felt he was not suitable to portray a serene character, and claimed he was “too authentic”).
Getting the version of the show that Bruce Lee envisioned was a lengthy process with numerous roadblocks. Warrior was the last original series produced by Cinemax. In 2015, the show was announced, but production didn’t begin until October 2017. In April 2019, Cinemax aired the first season and renewed the show for a second season. After the second season finished filming, Cinemax announced in January 2020 that they would cease production on all original programming. Season 2 began airing in October 2020 but due to the upcoming merger with HBO, the future of Warrior was uncertain.
In April 2021, HBO Max renewed the show for a third season but then nothing happened. By the time production finally began in July 2022, the old sets had already been destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The cast’s contracts had also expired but they all loved the show so much that they all agreed to return to film another season. Season 3 began airing in June 2023. HBO Max announced the show had been canceled in December 2023, but Netflix picked up the rights to air the first three seasons.
A fourth season at Netflix is a possibility, but it really depends on the ratings for S1-S3 this week and next week.
