The beloved series Kung Fu has been reimagined in The CW’s gender-swapping modern-day retelling. At the helm, creator Christina Kim exclaims that developing Kung Fu for a new generation has been a dream come true. The co-showrunner appeared at WonderCon along with the cast to talk about the journey of bringing the series back to television.
Warner Bros. had been wanting to remake the show for quite a while, and when the studio approached Christina, she was very excited about the opportunity. “I do remember it being on TV when I was a kid,” says Kim. “My older brothers would watch it.”
The original series did not have an Asian-American lead — and when it came time to update it, it was really important to her for that to change. “It was time to reimagine it with a strong, kick-ass woman,” she says, “and that she had to be fully Asian American.” After an extensive casting search, Kim says they “felt so lucky” and that it was “meant to be” when they found and landed on Olivia Liang, who plays Nicky on the update.
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The importance of having the lead role be a full Asian American was strong for the creator, who grew up in suburbs of Chicago. “We were the only Asian family in our school. No one looked like me, no one looked like me on our television,” she says. “Having someone look like you on TV as a young Asian-American person — what an amazing thing.”
Although Christina Kim is Korean American, it was really important for her while writing the story that she tell an encompassing shared Asian-American experience in Kung Fu. “There’s also specific Chinese-American, Chinese stories, so it’s really important,” says Kim. When co-showrunner Robert Berens came on board, they really wanted to make sure they got things right.
“I didn’t want to write from a Korean perspective,” she explains. “I’m always checking in with our wonderful actors. There’s a lot of elements that are universal, but also very specific to Asian culture. It’s really fun to dig into.”
Having a predominantly Asian cast for a primetime drama series is groundbreaking — and for Kim, the experience has been quite emotional. The creator recalls a moment several months ago where she was working at home (due to Covid) editing some of the show’s trailers. Of her two young boys, her 8-year-old looked over her shoulder at the sizzle reel and exclaimed, “Mom, they’re Korean!” She told her son that they were not Korean, but she understood what he meant.
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“I can hear you. Yes, they look like you and me,” she told him. At that moment, realizing that her 8-year-old, who is used to watching American TV and seeing what she’s been working on and noticing other Asian individuals on the screen, was a proud moment for her. “I literally just got teary.”
The Executive Producer has worked behind the camera on several hit TV shows — NBC’s Blindspot, CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 and Ghost Whisperer. But about a year ago, during camera tests for the new show in Vancouver, looking at the monitors in video village struck a chord.
“I saw all of [the cast’s] faces, and it just hit me,” she says. “This is different. This is not what TV looks like all the time, and I just started getting teary again. I was sitting next to one of the producers and he put his hand on my arm and he said, ‘It’s pretty awesome.’ It’s wonderful. I am thrilled and I’m so thankful for [the cast] for bringing it to life. Truly the dream cast.”
“This family is an Asian-American family,” Christina Kim says of the Shens. “I’m so proud to have this on TV to show a really realistic representation of this family that I think everyone’s going to relate to.”
Kung Fu premieres Wednesday, April 7 at 8pm on The CW.
