EXCLUSIVE: Gavin Stenhouse (Black Mirror) and Gwendoline Yeo (American Crime) are set as series regulars in the CW pilot Kung Fu, a reimagining with a female lead of the 1970s David Carradine-starring TV series. It hails from Christina M. Kim, Martin Gero, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV. Additionally Hanelle Culpepper (Star Trek: Picard) has signed on to direct and co-executive produce the pilot.

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Written by Kim, inspired by the original series created by Ed Spielman, the new Kung Fu sees a quarter-life crisis causing a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find 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 now is targeting her.

Stenhouse will play Evan Hartley, a highly successful Assistant District Attorney who still has a soft spot for his first love, Nicky, when she returns home.

Yeo will portray Zhilan, a cryptic woman with deep criminal ties and a mysterious connection to the Shaolin monastery where Nicky trained in Kung Fu. Her quest for power led her to murder Nicky’s mentor, proving that she will be a determined and dangerous foe.

Kim and Gero executive produce via Gero’s Quinn’s House Production Company, which produces in association with Berlanti Prods. and Warner Bros. TV. Berlanti and Schechter executive produce for Berlanti Prods.

Stenhouse will next be seen in the Blumhouse/Hulu anthology series Into The Dark. He recurs on Fox’s 9-1-1 and was part of the cast of the Emmy-winning “San Junipero” episode of Black Mirror on Netflix. He previously was a series regular role opposite Hope Davis in NBC’s drama series Allegiance. Stenhouse is repped by Gersh and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.

Best known for her roles on Desperate Housewives and American Crime, Yeo co-starred in Amazon’s, An American Girl Story: Ivy & Julie live-action special. She also has voiced characters on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Wolverine and X-Men miniseries, among others. Yeo is repped by Pakula/King & Associates, Rothman Andres Entertainment and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.

Culpepper directed the first three episodes of Star Trek: Picard, which marked the first time a female director launched a new Star Trek series in the franchise’s history. Her numerous other television directing credits include How to Get Away With Murder, Gotham, American Crime, Empire, Counterpart, Mayans MC and NOS4A2.