A new video for Into the Badlands introduces the villains for season 3, Pilgrim (Babou Cessay) and Cressida (Lorraine Toussaint), who will come to the Badlands as religious zealots looking to build a kingdom. After two short seasons, the series was renewed by AMC for an extended 16-episode third season.

Developed by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Milles Millar, Into the Badlands is a martial arts drama set in a post-apocalyptic world. The series stars Daniel Wu as Sunny, a trained killer who keeps a record of his kills with tattoos on his back. Sunny becomes the protector of a teenage boy named M.K. (Aramis Knight) who has a mysterious and deadly power. His ability makes him a target for powerful figures in the Badlands, particularly the Widow (Emily Beecham), who has long sought to make use of M.K.’s powers. Sunny and M.K. have to work together to survive as scheming barons like the Widow fight for control of the Badlands.

AMC has released a featurette for the new season which previews the new characters and their goals. In the video, showrunner Alfred Gough describes Pilgrim and Cressida as the “the biggest new characters to come into this world“. Babou Cessay says that Pilgrim’s one goal is Azra, the highly sought-after mythical city that has been name-dropped a number of times over the course of the series. According to Daniel Wu, Pilgrim has powers that help make him a “powerful nemesis“. Unlike M.K., Pilgrim knows exactly what he wants to do with his abilities, and this makes him even more dangerous.


In the featurette, we learn how Pilgrim has amassed an army of warriors. Pilgrim looks for outcasts and people who have nothing left and invites them to join his family. We know from the Into the Badlands season 3 trailer that Pilgrim will soon try to recruit M.K.

Pilgrim is advised by Cressida, who Lorraine Toussaint calls Pilgrim’s “main strategic seer“. Cressida guides Pilgrim while helping him establish his new kingdom. Assisting Pilgrim and Cressida in their quest are Nix (Ella Rae Smith) and Castor (Dean Charles-Chapman), two teenagers who Pilgrim loves as if they were his own children. They have black eyes, which indicates that they may share M.K.’s strange ability. The two are skilled fighters who use their powers to fight Pilgrim’s battles. Pilgrim, Cressida, Nix, and Castor are among the new cast members who have joined the cast for season 3, along with Lewis Tan and Sherman Augustus as Gaius Chau and Nathaniel Moon respectively.

It’s possible that the additions of Pilgrim, Nix, and Castor have something to do with Gough’s promise of more “batshit crazy” martial arts fights, considering that all three are shown to be proficient fighters in the video. Fans will no doubt be interested to see what Pilgrim, Cressida, Nix, and Castor bring to the series. All four of the new characters play into the narrative that season 3 will expand the world of the Badlands.

Season 3 of Into the Badlands premieres Sunday, April 22 on AMC.