The second season of The CW’s Kung Fu premieres tonight at 9PM after The Flash season premiere. Taking a legendary franchise for a modern spin, the series has successfully blended action and mythology with a fantastic cast of characters that make up the family of Nicky Shen, the series’ protagonist as played by Olivia Liang. With the March 9 season premiere, new dangers are entering Nicky’s world, and to promote this season opener, we spoke with series star Olivia Liang herself for a preview of what’s to come. Be warned some spoilers might be discussed within!
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: How is Nicky doing when we find her again as Season 2 begins?
OLIVIA LIANG: With Season 2, we pick up six months after all of the shenanigans of Season 1. Nicky’s doing great, honestly, and the Shens are doing really well. Harmony Dumplings’ business is booming, Jin and Mei-Li are happily married, Dennis and Althea are happily married, Ryan’s graduating med school… so everything in her life seems to be pretty picture perfect, especially since she had such a hard time fitting back into the family in Season 1. Everyone’s just happy and life is good, which means something has to go wrong.
What can you say about the new character Mia who we will be meeting?
Mia is Mei-Xue’s daughter. [Mei-Xue] is Mei-Li’s sister, so she’s Nicky’s cousin, and we learn pretty early on in the season that she is a descendant of both of the bloodlines that we encounter in Season 1, so she is both a Warrior and a Guardian, and that is kind of an integral part of Russell Tan’s plans for San Francisco, so we’ve got to stop him.
Being from both the Warrior and Guardian bloodlines is very rare, correct?
I think so, yes. We don’t necessarily have a Warrior Guardian Handbook of lore that we can we can look into, but it’s definitely something that we have not seen before. Nicky and Henry in all of their research have not come across someone like Mia.
What can you share about Mia’s background?
I think she she was very sheltered. Her mom and definitely knew the danger that Mia would be in, so she kept a lot of things from her. She’s lost, and Nicky sees a lot of herself in Mia. She sees a lot of similar qualities and similar drive, so I think Nicky really wants to take her under her wing and protect her.
There’s a new guy Sebastian at the restaurant who seems too good to be true. Should we be worried about him?
You know, a lot of the guys [on this show] seem too good to be true. Dennis seems too good to be true. And so does Henry… like, they’re all very perfect. I think with Sebastian we’ll find a very interesting backstory, and you’ll see that one of the Shen siblings takes a liking to him. But without giving too much away, there would be way too much drama if we have another shady guy join into the fold.
You kind of touched upon this, but how is the family dealing with the restaurant’s recent success?
I think really well. Particularly for Jin and Mei-Li, it’s very exciting that their really home cooked food is really resonating with people, and so they’re taking the success very well. They want to share the success with the community, and so you’ll see a really rich storyline come out this. Because of Harmony Dumplings’ success, they want to give back to the community. I really, really love that storyline. You get just get to see the older generation of Asian America come together in a beautiful way.
One very important and great part of this show is the family. How quickly did you all come together as a cast to create that vibe?
Truly, instantly… and that’s not an exaggeration. Shannon, Eddie, and I, we already knew each other from just being in L.A. and being Asian actors. The community is very small and tight knit, in that sense. And then we met Jon when we all tested for this show, and immediately hit it off with him. And, you know, for Tzi and Kheng, they just seamlessly they just really took on the role of mom and dad for us. There’s an unspoken bond when when you share culture and when you’re a minority in America. So we really instantly clicked, and it was so seamless and easy to connect with each other and become a family.
How does it make you feel when fans – especially younger people – see you on the street and recognize you.
It still feels surreal. Shannon and I talk all the time about how we really still can’t believe that we’re making a show and that it’s got an all-Asian cast and that people are watching us and and thinking like, “oh, I could be that person someday” or “I see myself in that person.” So if I ever get recognized, it still surprises me, and then I feel very flattered, and honored, and happy that that our show is resonating with people.
Both of Nicky’s siblings seem to be moving forward with life. Is Nicky happy with where she’s at herself is at this point?
I think, yes, Nicky’s happy. “Will Nicky get a job this season?” is a good question. I see her is kind of someone who loves volunteer work and loves giving back to the community in that way. She feels very fulfilled when she knows that she’s giving back. Her life doesn’t necessarily revolve around progressing financially in that kind of way for herself, but she’s really looking around her, and wanting to make her life rich in other ways.
Can you talk about some of the villains that Nicky fought last season, and where we might find them in Season 2 begins?
The big bad for us in Season 1 was Zhilan, and then by the finale, we revealed Russell Tan, and Russell Tan is kind of the through-line danger. We really have to stop him because he’s got these big plans for his own gain, and there would be a lot of damage that comes from it. And with the Mia introduction, we know that she’s both Warrior and Guardian, and in Season 1, we established we’ve got Zhilan who is of The Guardian bloodline and Nicky who is of the Warrior bloodline…. I don’t want to give away too much, but you might see Nicky form some unlikely alliances with with some people.
Is there any actor or actress that you’d like to work with more in Season 2?
We’re almost done shooting Season 2, so I’ll have to wish for Season 3, knock on wood. I I always love shooting family scenes. Anything with the Shen siblings, I can never get enough of, so I just always want more of that.
Something I was thinking when I was watching: Is the food in Harmony Dumplings real when you film?
Yes. This season, we got a food expert. His name is Gary, and he grew up in Chinese restaurants. His family owns one up here in Canada. He’s come on to to consult for us, and, like, the food is legit. It’s real. It smells so good, and I always want to eat it, except that it’s been sitting out for six hours because that’s how long it takes to film one of those scenes.
Would you say the family of Russell Tan and his children is kind of like the Bizarro version of the Shen family?
Now that you say that… absolutely, yes! He’s got three kids. We’ve got three kids. They are much more well-to-do than we are. But yeah, I guess you could call them, like, “The Wrong-Turn Shens.” There’s something a little menacing about all of them.
What aspect of Nicky’s life or background would you like to see explored in Season 3 or beyond?
Going back to the question of who I want to work with more, I’d love to see what Nicky and Evan’s friendship was like… how they became so close, and the they did date for a while. So, I would love to see a little bit of Nicky’s friendship with with Evan. That would hopefully give more leeway to see more of Nicky’s humor and personality, instead of always having to be in crisis mode and saving the city.
What makes Kung Fu different from other shows on the CW Network or television in general?
Kung Fu, for me, it is the first one-hour Asian-led family drama. We tackle just so many different generations of what it means to be Asian-American. We do it in a way that’s fun. There’s fighting, there’s love, there’s humor, and I think that everyone – no matter if you’re Asian or not – can find themselves in one of these characters. And there are so many beautiful lessons to be learned, especially through the character of Pei-Ling, she really brings in a lot of Eastern wisdom. We could use that sometimes in this very quick-paced Western culture. Those are just some of the unique things.
What excites you the most for fans to see in Season 2?
The first thing that comes to mind is the action. I think we’ve really stepped it up this season. Every character who gets to fight… we as actors have gotten so much more comfortable with action, and stunts, and fight choreography, so I think that we’ve really stepped it up. Our stunt team is incredible, and these fights are looking so vicious and so cool. I’m really excited for fans of the action genre to see us really step up.
Do you have any final words you’d like to say to the fans will be reading this?
Thank you for watching. I hope you guys really love Season 2. We have loved making it, and we love the story that we’re telling, and we believe in it. We are just very grateful for every person who takes time out of their day to watch our show.
Photos for the Kung Fu season premiere “Year of the Dragon, Part 1” can be found here… a trailer for the season premiere can be found below. Airs 9PM ET/PT March 9 on The CW.
