The CW has set a premiere date for its Kung Fu reboot series.
Kung Fu will debut Wednesday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, followed by the latest episode of Nancy Drew Season 2. It will occupy the spot typically reserved for Riverdale, which will be on a pre-planned hiatus and is currently scheduled to air the second half of Season 5 starting Wednesday, July 7.
Created by Christina M. Kim (Lost, Blindspot), The CW's Kung Fu series stars Olivia Liang (Legacies) as Nicky Shen, a young Chinese American woman who returns home to San Francisco to battle crime and corruption after training at a remote Shaolin monastery in China. Yvonne Chapman (Street Legal) costars as Zhilan, the assassin who killed Nicky's Shaolin master Pei-Ling (Vanessa Kai) and is now targeting her. Other cast members include Power Rangers (2017) star Ludi Lin as Kerwin, the playboy heir to a billionaire family fortune who forms an "erotically charged partnership" with Zhilan in his quest for revenge.
David Carradine starred in the original Kung Fu TV series as Kwai-Chang Caine, a half-white American, half-Chinese Shaolin monk who traveled the old American west in search of his half-brother, Danny Caine, using his kung fu abilities to stand up for those abused and exploited by others. The show ran for three seasons from 1972-75 and was followed by 1986's Kung Fu: The Movie, with Carradine reprising his role as Kwai-Chang Caine. After a failed TV pilot titled Kung Fu: The Next Generation aired in 1987, Carradine returned once more for the modern-set sequel series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, running for four seasons from 1993-97.
The synopsis for The CW's Kung Fu reads,
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 her 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.
Executive produced by Christina M. Kim, Martin Gero, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV, Kung Fu stars Olivia Liang, Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Tony Chung, Jon Prasida, Shannon Dang, Eddie Liu and Vanessa Kai. The series premieres Wednesday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Source: The CW