The CW has released new photos for the series premiere of Kung Fu, a reinvention of the beloved David Carradine-led series of the same name. The new Kung Fu, which debuts Wednesday, April 5th on the network, stars Olivia Liang as Nicky Shen, a young Chinese-American woman who returns home to San Francisco after having gone on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. When she returns home, however, she finds her hometown and family in the grip of crime and corruption while also having to deal with a very personal threat all her own.
The series was first announced by The CW in November 2019 and given a straight-to-series order in May 2020. The series is just the latest revival of the classic television series, after a 1986 Kung-Fu movie and the unsold pilot Kung Fu: The Next Generation in 1987. The CW Kung Fu series was created by Blindspot executive producer Christina M. Kim. In addition to Liang, the series stars Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Jon Prasida, Shannon Dang, Eddie Liu, Gavin Stenhouse, Yvonne Chapman, and Tony Chung.
You can check out the pilot synopsis below and keep reading for photos from the episode.
SERIES PREMIERE -- A quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese American woman, Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to San Francisco, she finds her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption and her own parents Jin (Tzi Ma) and Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) are at the mercy of a powerful Triad. Nicky will rely on her tech-savvy sister Althea (Shannon Dang) and Althea's fiancé Dennis (Tony Chung), pre-med brother Ryan (Jon Prasida), Assistant District Attorney and ex-boyfriend Evan (Gavin Stenhouse) and new love interest Henry (Eddie Liu) as well as her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice--all while searching for the ruthless assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor Pei-Ling (Vanessa Kai) and is now targeting her. Hanelle Culpepper directed the episode written by Christina M. Kim.
Kung Fu debuts Wednesday, April 7th at 8/7c on The CW.