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Kung Fu reboot sets female lead

US reboot will see Lucy Chang, a Buddhist monk and kung fu master, travel through 1950s America.

The latest reboot idea to emerge from Hollywood is 1970s series Kung Fu, which starred David Carradine.

This time the new version to be produced by Greg Berlanti will feature a female lead.

Written by Wendy Mericle (Arrow, Everwood, Eli Stone), Kung Fu follows the adventures of Lucy Chang, a Buddhist monk and kung fu master who travels through 1950s America armed only with her spiritual training and her martial arts skills as she searches for the man who stole her child years before. When she teams with JT Cullen, a charming Korean War vet with his own secrets, the two form an unlikely alliance that allows Lucy to continue her search while also coming to the aid of people in need.

The original series ran for 63 episodes from 1972 to 1975 with Carradine as an 1880s Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, who travels the American Old West armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts in search of his half-brother.

It isn’t clear if Carradine’s character and Lucy Chang are related.

FOX has given the project a ‘put pilot’ commitment, meaning if it does not proceed to series, the network will owe substantial monetary penalties to the studio.

A reboot of The Greatest American Hero was recently reported to be in the pipeline for ABC, with an Indian-American woman from Cleveland.

Source: Deadline

5 Responses

  1. Noooooo!

    Dear God. Not every single male role needs to be eviscerated before the altar of “remaking it with women because its the latest way we’ve worked out how to turn a buck”.

    Is anyone else thinking of Whose Line, Directors? “This time, play it like you are all women!”

    Maybe I should start a crowd funder – Andy Earhart, the story of an early aviator who went on to live to 95 after many a long distance trip by using innate skills such as being able to read a map and not get lost without a trace.

  2. Wonder who they’ll get to play Lucy, given it has Arrow and Flash connections via the producer and writer, maybe they’ll keep it in the family and use Celina Jade who played Shado in Arrow, she’d be a good fit (and recognisable to audiences).

  3. One thing that will count against it is the period setting-much more expensive to mount than a contemporary one, which is why the ’90s version was set then-that version didn’t last long though-the 70s show was very trippy on occasion and rode the wave of western interest in oriental martial arts sparked by Bruce Lee and others at the time.

  4. David Carradine made Kung Fu his trademark acting vehicle and it also made him a suedo- martial arts star, so it will be difficult to replace Carradine’s Kwai Chang Caine with anyone else. Caine later had a son played by Brandon Lee in the movie version, David Carradine also played Kwai Chang Caine the grandson in Kung Fu- The Legend Continues, and this character resurrection could be assumed to be related to this prospective 1950’s female version as this earlier 1990’s revival was set in modern times. Overall It would seem Kung Fu has had a few lifetimes.

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