Back in 2013, word arrived that Justin Lin was developing a television project based on some unrealised ideas by the martial arts legend Bruce Lee. No specific details were forthcoming at that point, but this morning comes the announcement that the project is still in good health and has found a home at Cinemax. It's called Warrior, and it's a crime drama.
The series revolves around a morally ambiguous fighter having some sort of existential crisis after his long-term plans for revenge against an old foe come to nothing. Lee worked on the project for some time in the early '70s, initially as a Western before Warner Bros. and Paramount persuaded him to re-tool it as something more modern. But Lee's accent was always a concern for the studio suits, and the series' thunder was eventually stolen by Kung-Fu.
Lee's daughter Shannon found her father's copious notes on the idea some years after his untimely death, and eventually partnered with Lin's Perfect Storm Entertainment on working up the material. It's the first project to come out of Perfect Storm's new TV division, and Lin will direct the pilot, written by Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper. Shannon Lee will be among the executive producers.
Lin, of course, is currently in pre-production on Star Trek 3, due out on July 8, 2016, but currently still awaiting a start date while Simon Pegg hammers out a screenplay. It seems unlikely that Lin has time to slot in a quick pilot in the meantime, however, so Warrior will likely be waiting until Lin is done with the final frontier before it kicks into action.
The next we'll see from Lin is the first two episodes of True Detective's new season, which starts on Cinemax's parent channel HBO on June 21.