AMC has given a direct-to-series order to “Badlands,” a new martial arts drama that has absolutely nothing to do with the classic Terrence Malick film featured in the picture accompanying this story.
Actually, “Badlands” is based very loosely on the Chinese tale “Journey to the West.”
AMC describes thusly: “In a land controlled by feudal barons, 'Badlands' tells the story of a great warrior and a young boy who embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.”
The “Badlands” order is for six, one-hour episodes that will premiere either in late 2015 or early 2016.
The project comes from writer/producers Al Gough and Miles Millar. For the purposes of the release, AMC has their credits as “Shanghai Noon” and “Smallville,” but for purposes of today's news cycle, Gough and Millar are also behind MTV's Terry Brooks adaptation “Shannara,” which received a straight-to-series 10-episode order this morning.
So this is a good day for Gough and Millar.
They'll be executive producing along with Stacy Sher and Michael Shamberg, plus martial arts filmmakers Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung.
Intriguing, right?
“We are incredibly excited to help Al and Miles, as well as Stacey and Michael from Double Feature to bring Badlands to life,” blurbs Joel Stillerman, AMC”s executive vice president of original programming, production and digital content. “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. Along with a beautiful story, they've also assembled the A-Team of martial arts fight choreography in Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung.”
AMC notes that it has only previously given direct-to-series orders to “The Walking Dead” and “Better Call Saul.”