Martial arts drama ‘Badlands’ gets straight-to-series order from AMC

AMC demonstrated its flexibility in its range of programming Friday in announcing a straight-to-series order for the martial arts drama “Badlands.”

The six-episode series is to premiere in late 2015 or early 2016.

Loosely based on the classic Chinese tale “Journey to the West,” the series centers on a warrior and a young boy who embark on an adventure “across a dangerous land to find enlightenment,” according to the network’s release.

The series becomes the network’s third series to get a straight-to-series order, after “The Walking Dead” and next year’s “Breaking Bad” prequel “Better Call Saul.”

“Badlands” (working title) was created by writers/show runners Al Gough and Miles Millar (“Shanghai Noon,” “Smallville”). The duo will act as executive producers along with Stacy Sher and Michael Shamberg (“Pulp Fiction,” “Contagion”) and master martial arts filmmakers Daniel Wu (“Tai Chi Zero”) and Stephen Fung.

“This creative team has so much expertise in bringing a fresh take to classic genres from their film and television experience, and their take on martial arts will be no exception,” read part of the statement from Joel Stillerman, AMC’s executive vice president of original programming, production and digital content. “Along with a beautiful story, they’ve also assembled the A-team of martial arts fight choreography in Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung.”

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