“In a world without guns, fighting is an art,” reads the tagline on the just-released key art for the upcoming AMC action series Into the Badlands. And the show’s butt-kicking artistry is certainly on display in early trailers like the one that screened at Comic-Con over the summer. Set in a post-apocalyptic America that’s been divided into different feudal territories, the warrior class of this brave new world carry swords rather than firearms. Not surprisingly, they put those swords to regular use in spectacular fight sequences that were choreographed by martial arts crews imported from Hong Kong. “The Hong Kong guys were speaking Chinese and English on set and some of the American stuntmen were learning Chinese,” remembers series star Daniel Wu. “It was a really cool, loose atmosphere that everyone got behind.”



Another example of the show’s East-Meets-West aesthetic is the beautiful Into the Badlands title sequence, which Yahoo TV is premiering exclusively today. A cross-cultural fusion of contemporary comic book imagery and classical Chinese scroll paintings, the titles reflect the show’s futuristic setting, while also harkening back to its ancient roots in the oft-told Ming Dynasty legend Journey to the West. “That story provides a very subtle subtext,” says Wu. “We’re using the concept, not the whole structure.”



Into the Badlands premieres Nov. 15 at 10 p.m. on AMC.

Click to expand...