In the closing moments of Kung Fu‘s inaugural season, hard-edged Zhilan Zhang went to prison for the murder of her sister Pei-Ling. The cunning assassin also entered the women’s detention center believing she had successfully killed her former flame Kerwin Tan. In its second season, The CW action-drama finds locked-up Zhilan’s reignited determination to take down the wealthy and powerful businessman who ruined her life.
In an exclusive interview with Zhilan’s portrayer, Yvonne Chapman, the enigmatic actress shares her character’s mindset while being locked up, her break-out breakout scene, and teases what’s ahead.
The opening episodes of the sophomore series take viewers to Kunming, China where Zhilan is being held prisoner. Instead of the confident and devious demeanor we’re used to seeing, in the detention center, Zhilan appears depressed and defeated.
“She has been on this mission to end [Russell Tan] who destroyed her family for so long, the majority of her life,” Chapman tells us. “The idea was kind of percolated in her head growing up because she grew up motherless, as she says in the prison to the manifestation to Pei-Ling. At the end of Season 1, she says ‘Just kill me,’ basically, to Nicky, because she has nothing left. She gave up love for this mission, she gave up having any kind of personal ties.
“Her whole vendetta has been against this man. For all of that to be taken away from her, everything that she’s been meticulously planned that we see in Season 1, she’s always ahead of the game, and now she’s like, ‘What’s my purpose? What do I have left?’ We just see someone who is completely defeated and despondent in prison not knowing what there is to live for anymore.”
In episode 2 of the season, titled “Year of the Tiger: Part 2,” Russell Tan (Kee Chan) sends a team of men to go after and kill Zhilan. “She’ll be dead by daybreak,” Juliette (Annie Q.) tells her brother Kerin (Ludi Lin). Advice from her manifested sister echoes in Zhilan’s head: “You must decide if you want to live.” It is then that her gears turn into overdrive and she expertly takes down the armed men one by one, culminating into the most epic fight scene we’ve ever seen on the series.
“It was a dream for me,” the Canadian actress says. “Honestly, a career highlight for me. Who doesn’t want to do that? [laughs] When they presented this [fight scene] to me in Season 2, I was like, ‘Yes! I get to go ‘John Wick’ on people’s ass!” I could have not asked for a better breakout fight than that. That was incredibly badass.
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“To go into the choreography, we had a few days of rehearsals in the stunt space,” Chapman continues. “[Our amazing world-class stunt team is] just incredible mentors. Really, really great people that train me very, very well to make sure I’m safe. I love, love my stunt double, she’s amazing. This time they let me do most of the fights, so that was fantastic.”
Yvonne reveals that throughout her entire time on the series, she thankfully has never been injured. It’s thanks to the stunt team and her stunt double that she has never been hurt on set. “They are very, very good at keeping us safe,” she shares. “My stunt double, she is an angel. She always makes sure that I am protected, I have the proper padding if I need it. She’s always there in my corner to make sure that I’m well taken care of.”
Now that Zhilan has escaped the confines of prison, it is only inevitable that she will run into Kerwin Tan, and if the promo for the next episode is any indication, that reunion is just around the corner.
“Definitely check out [episode 3] because that run-in will happen,” Yvonne Chapman teases. “I think everyone’s going to be quite satisfied to see the run-in of those two and the reactions to each other of them finding out that they’re alive and kicking. Just wait. It’s going to be a fun ride.”
Kung Fu airs Wednesdays at 9pm on The CW. Every episode will be available to stream on The CW App and CWTV.com the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.
