Sunny and M.K. spent a good part of Season 1 of Into the Badlands trying to get out of the Badlands. In Season 2, both warriors desperately fight to get back to the people they know.
Ahead of the March 19 return of the action series, AMC gave TV Show Patrol a first look at a new behind-the-scenes video in which cast and creators talk about the new season.
“Sunny’s been a killer all his life and then suddenly when he created life it created this huge spiritual change within him,” says Daniel Wu, who plays Sunny. “Now he’s trying to rid himself of that weight and get back to his family and become a normal person if he can.”
Sunny hoped to escape the Badlands and his past life as a Clipper with Veil (Madeleine Mantock), the mother of his unborn child, and M.K. (Aramis Knight), a Clipper-in-training who could lead the way.
They were separated, and as Season 2 begins, they’re trying to find each other. All the characters are on their own journeys, say co-creators Miles Millar and Al Gough, but those quests are emotionally connected.
When I spoke last year with Millar and Gough about the world building involved in “Into the Badlands,” they talked about the show’s steam punk aesthetic and, of course, the fights.
“The martial arts are really the secret sauce to the show,” Gogh says in the video.
Wu, who also executive produces, told me during Season 1 that the producers were planning even more fights in the new season. Several actors mention in the video that more people are involved in the fight scenes. They’re using new weapons and new fight styles, too.
“It’s still fast-paced, Hong Kong-style action, but we’re adding new elements like parkour [and] tricking,” Wu says.
Tricking, he explains, involves multiple kicks in one jump—as you see the series star do while shackled in a yoke.
After filming in New Orleans for Season 1, the production moved to Ireland for the new season. There they found “amazing, dramatic landscapes” that helped open up the world of the Badlands, Gough says.
“What we really wanted to do is explode the borders and get a sense of what this world is,” Millar adds. “How the world is and how it became the Badlands.”
They’ve also added much needed humor to the series, mostly in the form of Nick Frost as Bajie. Bajie is imprisoned with and shackled to Sunny—a situation that lends itself to laughs. I’ll have more from Frost in the coming weeks.
The BTS video also features interview moments with Emily Beecham, Ally Ioannides, Oliver Stark and Sarah Bolger.
Orla Brady, Madeleine Mantock and Stephen Lang also star. Creators/showrunners/writers Gough and Millar executive produce. Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg, David Dobkin, Michael Taylor, director Stephen Fung and Wu serve as executive producers.
“Into the Badlands” returns at 10/9c March 19 on AMC.
More Into the Badlands
Season 2 preview with co-creators