Kung-fu series Into the Badlands has scored record ratings in the US. Now it's available in the UK via Amazon Prime - and star Daniel Wu says the show offers more martial arts spectacle than any movie.
The post-apocalyptic project originated from a meeting between producer Stacey Sher and AMC's president of original programming Joel Stillerman at the premiere of Wu's film The Man with the Iron Fists.
Wu - a veteran of dozens of martial arts movies - in turn brought on Huan-Chiu Ku (Kill Bill, Fist of Legend) and Stephen Fung (House of Fury) to choreograph and shoot the action sequences.
He also plays the lead role of Sunny - a warrior seeking enlightenment - in Into the Badlands, though did not originally intend to act on the show, for several reasons.
First, having taken a break from martial arts cinema to focus on purely dramatic work, Wu was concerned about there being enough depth to the part.
"That was part of why I was reserved - because of the genesis of it being The Man with the Iron Fists," he admitted to Digital Spy. "Even though I'm in that movie, it is very campy and I couldn't see myself doing something like that for five or six years. It might get old really fast."
Wu says he was more than convinced by the pilot script for Into the Badlands, written by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. But the 41-year-old then had another concern - getting injured.
"If this show's successful, it can go for five or six years..." he said. "...and the amount of fighting that we're doing is very over the top - even in movies, I don't think people do this much fighting.
"Sunny for example, he's in in 11 of the 12 major fights that there are in the whole series. That's 11 fight scenes in four months. I don't even think Jackie Chan or Jet Li or has done that.
"In my mind as a producer, I thought we should get someone in their late '20s, early '30s, who are at their physical peak. So that's why I didn't put myself forward at first, because I didn't feel I was the best option."
Wu was eventually talked around by his producers, and though he insisted on auditioning for the part of Sunny alongside other potential leads, he emerged as AMC's top pick.
"I'm very happy with how the show turned out," he enthused. "I mean, it was tough. I think it was the toughest project I've ever worked on.
"I'm lucky I came out of it with no major injuries. Cracked rib, really, that was not a big deal. I was concerned about tearing something - getting severely injured and not being able to continue.
"Luckily that didn't happen, and also I came out of it smarter, knowing how to train better for next season."
Into the Badlands is yet to be officially recommissioned, though Wu is confident we'll see more of Sunny beyond the initial six-part run.
"It's not a show where we could do 20-30 episodes, because that's a crazy amount of fighting - if it was a network show on 20-30 episodes a season, that would be impossible.
"So I think what we're focusing on for next season is 10 episodes, and I think that's a good number."
Episode one of Into the Badlands is now available via Amazon Prime Instant Video, with new episodes added every Tuesday.
Get an exclusive inside look at Into the Badlands:
