Fans of Kung Fu will finally see Henry Yan (Eddie Liu) and Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang) reunited in a new episode that airs at 9PM ET/PT tonight on The CW. The episode is called “The Compass” and the audience can expect a lot of action, emotion, and danger all combined when these two characters reunite. See a gallery of photos from the episode here!
KSiteTV was able to speak with Eddie Liu about the reunion as well as his own personal training he has been doing to build Henry’s arsenal of moves and technique. You can find our interview below.
KSITETV’S CRAIG BYRNE: What was your reaction when you found out about the journey that Henry would be taking in Season 3?
EDDIE LIU: It’s an opportunity to delve deeper into the character and grow the character. Christina [Kim] and Bob [Berens] talked to me about how they were really looking forward to having Henry come into his own, and to truly step out of shadow of loyal, capable boyfriend and team player to really be his own person.
For the past few months, since Season 2 ended and where we pick up in season 3, Henry’s been trekking across the globe. He seems some shit things and he’s been in dangerous situations. He’s had to mature, and he’s been hardened by the past few months. What’s really going to come as a shock to him is just how much his past comes into play. He’s spent so much time and focus looking ahead at what’s out there that it’s going to be really unexpected when he sees that a lot of the answers he’s looking for are going to come from his past.
It was a little odd, or rather, unusual to not be with my my friends… because they’re all friends now, and really close… they feel like cousins and siblings at times. But, oddly enough, it actually was helpful as an actor. It really helped me do my job, because a big part of what Henry is going through is isolation. Being removed from my co-workers on a regular basis helped fit into that state of mind and emotion.
Can you preview at all how Henry will respond to seeing Nicky again?
He’ll respond with a lot of surprise, in the purest sense.
Does he still hold out hope that they could still be together?
Absolutely. He’s very much still holding a candle for her. We saw him clutching on to his grandmother’s wedding ring that he completely planned to give to Nicky one day. He knows that day is not yet, but I think for him, Nicky is still very much his North Star. It’s just that he has some things to do right now, before he can make his way home.
Do you think there are any parallels between Henry’s story now and Nicky’s story when the show began?
Absolutely. There’s a beautiful parallel to that, where she had faced very extreme very personal moments in her life that caused her to go off on her own. If there’s anyone who can understand why Henry needs to go do something like this, it’s Nicky, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less when he does have to leave her. We’re all human, and being broken up with like that, in the way that he did to her, it just flat out sucks.
As an actor, my job is to not judge the way he left. I just have to dig in and understand that Henry had just several hours after watching his father die to realize that this was the mission that he needed to set out to do, on his own.
On a similar note, is there a part of Henry that wishes that he and Nicky had gone on this adventure together?
I know that Henry misses her, and he does hold out hope that they can be together again, someday. I think at this point, Henry still just truly believes that this is something that he needs to do on his own. It’s one of those things where as a fan as audience member, I can sit here and say “you two are stronger together,” but Henry still reeling from the the untimely death of his dad who died saving his life, so I can’t say with full certainty that Henry’s head is screwed on straight. He’s still very raw, and what Henry chooses to do is very much what he fully truly believes in his heart to be the right thing to do.
Can you talk about this villain is was tracking Henry?
His name is Calvin Zarko, and he is definitely in the higher tier level of enemies that Henry’s had to face. He’s a trained mercenary. He’s got resources, and he has a team of trained killers with ammunition… and these guys don’t mess around. These guys have already killed someone close to Henry, and they’re going to do everything they can to get what they want.
If Henry were to find out about Bo, how might he respond?
I think at this point in the game, it’s not going to feel great, for sure. Henry wouldn’t like it.
Can you talk about the intricate wire work we see in tonight’s episode?
It was my first time getting to do wire work on the show; I believe it was Olivia’s first time as well. Usually, wire stunts are reserved for intense, rapid motions that we leave to our amazing stunt professionals to do to make us look amazing, to sell a really cool, very sudden stunt. I can say that it’s going to come to play in the climax of Episode 3, and you’ll know for sure when it happens and why we had to use the wire for that.
Can you talk about the new workout and training regimes you’ve taken on to prepare for this story arc?
Absolutely. When we finished Season 2 and our hiatus started, I reached out to our stunt coordinator Andrew Chin, and I asked him to give me homework, and tell me what I needed to work on the off-season to be better prepared for the next season. I had been thinking about this for a while now. My goal was for Henry’s fighting style to reflect his journey and his story arc as a character, and I felt that it was time to evolve the fighting style and let it reflect that Henry is going on a more dangerous journey and his skill level will have to grow with that.
I have the privilege and the honor of going to the Inosanto Academy in Los Angeles. They teach a whole array of styles including Filipino Martial Arts, Silat, Wing Chun, Muay Thai, and Jeet Kune Do, and those styles are incredibly practical, and brutal, and effective. I think, especially having that Southeast Asian style and culture with hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting, and knife defense technique. It looks gritty, and raw, and real, and it also looks great on camera.
You can only learn so much in just a few weeks, but my goal was that even if I could just pick up a flavor of those styles, I could take it back with me for Kung Fu and add that to Henry’s arsenal. What I love about Henry and his fighting style is that his fighting style is that it’s such a cool hybrid of traditional and modern.
Do you have anything else you’d like to say to the fans who’ll be reading this? (#TeamHicky)
I’m not going to tell them that they need to hold their breath… if they do, it’s going to be need to be it’s going to need to be a very long, deep breath.
Kung Fu “The Compass” airs at 9PM ET/PT TONIGHT (October 19) on The CW.
