The other week, we here at WiC got a big fat lump of coal in our Christmas stocking when we learned that Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn't be bringing back Warrior -- an excellent martial arts historical drama that doesn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves -- for a fourth season on Max. Warrior, based on an idea by Bruce Lee that he never got to turn into a show, had already had a topsy-turvy life; its first two seasons ran on Cinemax before Max picked it up. And now it could be over, despite season 3 ending on a thrilling cliffhanger.
There is one distant hope. Alongside the announcement of Warrior's cancelation came the news that all three seasons of the show would start to stream on Netflix, in addition to Max, starting as early as February. That could expose the show to a whole new audience. Who knows? If enough people watch, maybe Netflix would become the latest studio to bring the series back from the dead?
I didn't put much stock in this theory -- I was too busy mourning -- but at least one cast member is pushing for it to happen. Jason Tobin, who plays the hot-headed Young Jun, took to Twitter to encourage Netflix to "greenlight S4 before we're a humongous hit in your platform!"
Let's gooooooooo!! @netflix greenlight S4 before we're a humongous hit in your platform! https://t.co/4K6C3ePMaT
— Jason Tobin (@jsntbn) December 19, 2023
I still think this is wishful thinking, but I loved Warrior so I'll take whatever scraps of hope I can get. Tobin, still blowing off steam, also retweeted critic Johnny Sobczak talking about how absurd it is that audiences nowadays regularly have to wait years between new seasons of their favorite TV shows, a possible dig at the long wait times between new seasons of Warrior. How is a show supposed to maintain momentum with those kinds of long pauses?
I remember when GoT taking two years between S7 and S8 was totally unheard of, but they *earned* the right to make fans wait, despite it being a difficult ask. Streaming has conditioned viewers into thinking this is normal. GoT doesn’t become GoT with 1 season every couple years.
— Johnny Sobczak (@JohnnySobczak) December 20, 2023
Tobin wasn't the only Warrior cast member to sound off. In response to news of the cancellation, actor Kieran Bew simply posted a picture of his character, Bill O'Hara, beaten and bloodied behind the scenes:
#WarriorMax https://t.co/XNFhA0map2 pic.twitter.com/fhhNuYoIUd
— Kieran Bew 🐉 (@kieranbew) December 18, 2023
Kieran Bew, for the record, will appear on the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon as Hugh Hammer, so at least he's remaining in the HBO/Max family. But the whole cast deserves to a chance to show us what they can do, and Warrior deserves another shot at finding a permanent home. Hopefully it explodes on Netflix next year and this story will have a happy ending.
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