In a featurette for The CW, Yvonne Chapman discussed the experience of playing the villainous Zhilan on Kung Fu.
Shared to The CW's YouTube, Chapman opened by simply saying, "Oh, she's a badass. Who doesn't want to play a badass?" She elaborated, "I am having so much fun playing a villain because I get to do things and think things and get into a psyche and way of motivation that I would never, never do in my day-to-day life. And I get to wear clothes that I would never wear in my day-to-day life."
In the premiere episode of the series, we saw Zhilan and her forces invade the Shaolin monastery where protagonist Nicky Shen had spent three years learning the secrets of kung fu. Zhilan killed Nicky's Shifu, Pei-Ling, and stole a sacred sword before fleeing into the night. Nicky's hunt for Zhilan has been a core part of the story so far.
In the denouement of last Sunday's episode "Silence," it was revealed that Zhilan and Pei-Ling were sisters, which Chapman said was "really surprising. They are so polar opposite and so I think it really begs the questions of how these two sisters went on such separate paths."
Chapman closed the interview by describing what she finds most interesting about Zhilan. "She's uninhibited, she's vile at times, she's alluring, but with all of that she's also really heartbreaking and very, very much human. Yeah, she's a villain, but she's also very much so the hero of her own story."
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 new episodes air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Source: YouTube