Female-Led Kung Fu Reboot in Works at the CW

A female-led reboot of the David Carradine-starring Kung Fu television series from the 1970s is now in development at The CW. According to Deadline, the hourlong project is coming from Blindspot executive producer Christina M. Kim who will serve as writer and executive producer alongside Blindspot creator Martin Gero as well as executive producers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter for Warner Bros. TV. The CW project is the latest Kung Fu incarnation in development from Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros TV, with two previous versions in development for Fox, though they never went to pilot.

The version written by Kim will be inspired by the original Kung Fu series created by Ed Spielman which ran for three seasons between 1972 and 1975 on ABC. The reboot will follow a young Chinese-American woman who, prompted by a quarter-life crisis, drops out of college and goes on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. However, when she returns and finds her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice — all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

It sounds like a significant departure from the 1970s series, which saw Carradine’s Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk, traveling the American Old West armed with spiritual training and martial arts skill as he seeks to find his family roots — including his half-brother, Danny Caine.

Kim and Gero will executive produce The CW’s Kung Fu reboot via Gero’s Quinn’s House Production Company Berlanti and Schechter executive produce for Berlanti Productions. The Kung Fu project moving from Fox to The CW also isn’t the first time a Berlanti production has made such a move — and the track record is promising for the Kung Fu reboot. Both Riverdale and Black Lightning originated in development for Fox before heading to The CW. Riverdale is currently in its fourth season on the network while Black Lightning is in its third.

The Kung Fu reboot is just the latest in-development project announced for The CW. Last month it was announced that a Superman and Lois series starring Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch was in development as well as a prequel series to The 100 while in September it was announced that an Arrow spinoff based off of the show’s 2040 timeline was also in the works.

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