AMC is giving another straight to series order, this time to the martial arts drama Badlands, which is loosely based on the Chinese tale Journey to the West.
According to THR, “In a land controlled by feudal barons, Badlands tells the story of a great warrior and a young boy who embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.”
“We are incredibly excited to help Al and Miles, as well as Stacey and Michael from Double Feature to bring Badlands to life,” said AMC exec vp original programming Joel Stillerman. “This creative team has so much expertise in bringing a fresh take to classic genres from their film and television experience, and their take on martial arts will be no exception. Along with a beautiful story, they’ve also assembled the A-Team of martial arts fight choreography in Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung.”
The network has ordered six hour-long episodes of the scripted series, which was created by Smallville duo Al Gough and Miles Millar (both of whom will stay on as writers, showrunners and executive producers). Gough and Millar were also recently tapped to adapt the best-selling Shannara novels for television, which we recently reported received a straight to series order from MTV.
With the networks tentpole series Mad Men in its final season and the ratings giant Breaking Bad having already taken its final bow, AMC is looking to add a heavy hitter to its lineup. Their recent attempts at scripted drama, Turn and Halt and Catch Fire, haven’t done phenomenal in the ratings department, and although Turn has been renewed for a second season, the network still needs something solid.
Badlands is rumored to be premiering either later this year or in early 2015, so look for it then.