Warrior's Olivia Cheng on Bringing Activism to Her Art
In 1971, Bruce Lee had a vision. He wanted to tell the stories of a martial artist living and working in the Old West of the late 19th century with intention, depicting the Asian community in all its fullness, complexity, beauty, and love. As Hollywood lore tells it, that idea was good enough to be reworked and whitewashed into the series Kung Fu, starring David Carradine—but without Lee’s involvement. The legendary actor died in 1973 and never saw his vision come to fruition. Almost fifty years later, his daughter Shannon Lee picked up his mantle to bring Warrior to life. Set during the Tong Wars of 1870s San Francisco, the Cinemax series sees the Wild Wild West come to life—without whitewashing—as Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a Chinese immigrant and martial arts prodigy, navigates California’s lawlessness in pursuit of his missing sister. With an incredible cast by her side, Shannon realized her father’s dream of telling diasporic stories without compromise.