AMC wasn’t always the network of endless Walking Dead spinoffs and Anne Rice vampires and witches. In 2015, the cable channel branched out into the martial arts genre with Into the Badlands, a series that ultimately ran for three seasons.
Netflix subscribers may not realize it, but Into the Badlands was on the streamer for an extended period before it was sent to AMC+. Now that AMC is temporarily sharing its library shows with Netflix, Into the Badlands is back alongside A Discovery of Witches, Dark Winds, and more. Those other shows have more substantial followings, but since Into the Badlands is largely a cult series, we’re sharing three reasons why you should watch it on Netflix in August.
The action is incredible
The first thing you have to know is that Into the Badlands was created as a vehicle for over-the-top action. It’s baked into the postapocalyptic setting where almost all contemporary technology was lost, including guns. In their place, the fighters of this world favor blades, crossbows, and the martial arts.
And it has to be said that Into the Badlands excels at action. The fight choreography is very impressive, even as the fighters themselves sometimes bend the laws of physics with their movements. The show can get away with that since it does have some sci-fi and fantasy elements. But if you’re looking for a TV show that can give you an action fix, this is the series for you.
Daniel Wu grounds the series and gives it credibility
Since Into the Badlands borrows a lot of its fighting styles and action from Hong Kong cinema, it’s only fitting that a genuine Hong Kong movie star is at the center of the show. In this case, the actor in question is Daniel Wu, an American-born Chinese actor who assembled a long list of credits in Hong Kong action flicks before he was cast in this series as Sunny.
Sunny is presented as the most important character in Into the Badlands, and most of the stories revolve around him in some way. At the start of the series, Sunny is in the service of Baron Quinn (Marton Csokas) as his lead enforcer. However, Sunny has quietly defied the rules of his station by taking on a lover, Veil (Madeleine Mantock), and fathering a child with her. Sunny also feels protective towards M.K. (Aramis Knight), a young man who has hidden powers. Sunny’s central position in the story means he gets most of the show’s fight scenes. But he also gives the show its heart as he tries to find a way to break free and protect the people he cares about.
It features a story written by the co-creators of Wednesday
Four years after their previous hit, Smallville, came to an end, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar co-created Into the Badlands for AMC. The show was loosely adapted from the popular Chinese novel Journey to the West, and M.K. is based on that story’s famous Monkey King. Gough and Millar added their own flourishes of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as a number of colorful characters. One of our favorites is the Widow (Emily Beecham), one of Baron Quinn’s rivals and a frequent adversary of Sunny on this show. Beecham is deliciously amoral in the role, if not completely evil because she does have some redeemable qualities. She’s also a real badass and a lot of fun to watch.
Unfortunately, Gough and Millar didn’t hit all of the stories that they wanted to tell in this show, and it ends kind of abruptly. But Gough and Miller got to go on to create Wednesday for Netflix, and now fans of that series can see where this pair was willing to go on their previous show when they didn’t have to follow anyone’s guidelines except their own.
Watch Into the Badlands on Netflix.