One of Netflix’s most criminally underrated original shows has to be Wu Assassins, which quietly dropped onto the platform in August 2019, where it didn’t manage to gain much traction or grab many headlines. Which is a real shame, because the bonkers martial arts fantasy action series deserved to find a much bigger audience, although it’s since steadily risen to the status of cult favorite.
The ten-episode first season followed action icon Iko Uwais, who played a chef that gains the mystical powers of the Wu Assassin, forcing him to save the world from a myriad of threats including an immortal billionaire, Triad leaders with superpowers, interdimensional foes that control the elements and undercover cops. It sounds wild, and it is, but the ridiculous plot is hardly the show’s main concern.
Wu Assassins boasted some of the most impressive fight choreography to be found on the small screen, and there were rumors making the rounds last summer that the streaming service had renewed it for a second run of episodes. That doesn’t appear to be the case, but the good news is that the platform has ordered a standalone movie instead to continue the story.
Uwais and Mortal Kombat‘s Lewis Tan will return for Wu Assassins: Fistful of Vengeance, which is exactly the sort of subtitle a feature-length spinoff from the show should get. Shooting is set to take place in Thailand, a far cry from season 1’s Vancouver location, with series veterans Cameron Litvack, Jessica Chou and Yalun Tu writing the script, while Roel Reiné, who directed the third and fourth episodes of the first run of the show, will call the shots.
Of course, the episodic Wu Assassins hasn’t been canceled, but it’s not been officially renewed, either, so hopefully Fistful of Vengeance draws in decent numbers to keep the concept alive.
Published: Mar 1, 2021 01:38 pm