The first full trailer for Cinemax’s Warrior promises plenty of marital arts action. The new series hails from Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper and the series premier will be directed by executive producer Justin Lin, as they tell an action-packed story set in 19th century San Francisco, during the Tong Wars. In addition, Warrior has the added benefit of being based on some of the writing by marital arts legend Bruce Lee, and is also produced by his daughter, Shannon Lee.

Tropper first discussed Warrior just when Banshee was wrapping up its four-season run back in 2016. Lin was already in place on the series, but it had yet to announce its cast, which includes Andrew Koji in the lead as Ah Sahm, Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, or Rich Ting as Bolo. It also wasn’t clear that Banshee’s Hoon Lee would have a role as Wang Chao, as is seen in the new trailer. But while the names involved will likely pique the interest of Banshee and Fast & Furious fans, the show’s biggest selling point will be in how it delivers its marital arts action.

Thankfully, the full trailer has been assembled in such a way as to be very action oriented. In other words, Warrior looks like it’s going to live up to its title and then some. Take a look at the full trailer, posters, and synopsis below:


“WARRIOR is a gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs (Chinese organized crime family).”


As it turns out, though, the action isn’t the only selling point of the series. The new trailer gives a much more detailed look at how Warrior plans to capture the setting of 19th century San Francisco and the diversity at its center. In that sense, Cinemax’s new period actioner looks like it’ll appeal to fans of Peaky Blinders, from a purely aesthetic point of view, as the production design is as impressive as the stunt work done by so much of the cast. With this first look at Cinemax’s new series, it’s going to be a long wait until Warrior premieres in April.

Warrior premieres Friday, April 5 @10pm on Cinemax.