The Season 3 finale of The CW’s Kung Fu went back to the beginning… and by “the beginning,” we’re going back even farther, with the final moments taking inspiration from the original Kung Fu television series. It’s the culmination of a three-year journey for Nicky Shen and her family of characters — and if all goes well, this will lead to a fourth season.
All of Kung Fu Season 3 is available on the CW app or CWTV.com and the third season should be available on HBO Max soon. Recently, KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne spoke with showrunners Robert Berens and Christina M. Kim about the season finale and after an unexpected delay in posting, we now have that available to share with you.
KSITETV’S CRAIG BYRNE: Can you talk about the way in which Kung Fu Season 3 ended, which in a way was a tribute to the original Kung Fu television series of the 1970s?
ROBERT BERENS: We got excited about ending the season in a way that really opened the door for a shift in our show in the event that we come back, and also to embark Nicky in new phase of her life outside of San Francisco. Once we landed on that, the idea of paying a little bit of a nod to the original series, and the idea that what we’ve been watching this whole time was actually a kind of prequel to a more traditional reboot of the show, it tickled us, and it felt sort of emotional, surprising, and exciting.
CHRISTINA B. KIM: When the show first premiered for Season 1, a lot of questions were like, “so how much is it like the original series?” And I mean, to be honest, [it was] really nothing like the original series. It’s a big departure. But it did feel like over three seasons, [and now with] Nicky’s journey to sort of embark on something new, which is like more like the original series, it felt right to end the season that way.
And taking it even further. Was there ever a temptation to use the original theme music in that last scene?
KIM: No, only because we love our composer, Sherri Chung, so much. She’s just phenomenal, and I think she’s elevated the show in so many incredible ways. We kept saying “and Sherri’s gonna knock this out of the park, like she always does.”
BERENS: I think to the extent that we’re sort of nodding that now Nicky’s actually going to sort of fit into a little bit of that model of Caine from the original series, the history of Nicky’s journey, the history of her relationship with her family and these characters… [they] were just tied to Sherri’s existing themes. That was more important. A Sherri Kung Fu classic score in there was something we decided on pretty early.
Sherri did a number of great pieces for this finale. Did you want to talk about that?
KIM: We were lucky enough to go and sit in with her on the final recording session for the finale. Watching her is like watching a very modest, quiet genius at work. She watches the material and it just kind of comes to her… she is able to draw out the humor, to draw out the emotion. And she did that in the finale. We knew that Sherry was going to elevate everything that we’re doing and give it that extra punch that it needs. We’ve just been so blessed to work with her.
Can you talk about how family and the people surrounding her are Nicky’s secret weapon now?
KIM: It’s very much by design. As you recall, in the pilot when Nicky came home, she didn’t want to come home because she was estranged from her family. So, to really see how far she’s come in terms of her relationships with every member of her family, and also each individual character, they’ve all had their own arcs where they have become the strongest, most confident, best version of themselves thus far. They have all worked together to help Nicky and to help the community. It’s a realization that Nicky has in the finale, and as we’re imagining Season 4 as well, she’s kind of given these characters the tools [they need]. She’s been almost like a Shifu to her family, and they now have these incredible tools to do good, as well.
Is anything you’d like to say to those fans who will be reading this?
KIM: Thank you for supporting our show, and thank you for being with us on this journey. Our fans are amazing. I have to say we have fans that are making fan art, who are tweeting with us, who are posting photos and sending sweet messages… I’ve had messages sent to me that have made me tear up. We are just so grateful that we’ve been able to connect with people in this way. You send something out in the world and you have no idea how it’ll be received, but those little messages mean so much to us.
Has there been a part of the fandom that’s amused you like how people have gravitated towards – #Meibastian, for example?
BERENS: I think one of the wonderful things with our experience of the fandom is just that the things that they’re fanning out about are things that we’ve been excited by. We’re fans of our cast too. We’re fans of these characters as well. So we got excited about, you know, the friendship – not a romantic ship – between Mei Li and Sebastian, that was something that excited us both in the writers’ room, and then, the actors are bringing it to life. We never ship them romantically, but I think they’re seeing and loving the same things that we are seeing and loving in the show. That’s always just been very delightful; that synchronicity there.
Was there ever a temptation to give Zhilan some final moments with Pei-Ling?
BERENS: I think, for us, that was a very painful moment for Zhilan, to kind of rob her of that final moment with her sister, but it also felt important in a cosmic larger sense for Zhilan’s character. I think we as writers, and certainly the viewers, love Zhilan. She’s such an incredible character and great actress — Yvonne [Chapman]’s incredible.
But the bottom line is, there was an emotional impact and bring us full circle to what started this all, and what started this all was Zhilan killing her sister in the pilot and Nicky witnessing it. As the pieces of the finale started to come together, we realized that there was a symmetry here that essentially, under very different circumstances, Zhilan – who at this point, the one thing she wants most in the world is to save her sister and to be with her sister – that she would witness her sister’s death at Nicky’s hands felt very powerful. It felt like it had a really important shape to it. To us, it also worked for Zhilan as a reminder that the work of redemption is a much longer road than maybe she had hoped when she had her tunnel vision, like “if I just save Pei-Ling all will be forgiven.” And the answer is, that’s not quite true. She’s got a longer road ahead of her, and there’s a lot more work to repair the lives she’s taken. The bottom line is she didn’t just kill her sister; she’s killed many people in the first season of the show, and even before the events of our series began. Though we love where Zhilan is now, we felt there was a kind of sad justice to her being deprived of that moment. It really sets up her future.
Do you think it speaks to her character development that she didn’t get mad at Nicky for this?
BERENS: I think a part of her recognized the brutal justice of that. There was talk about, is there a schism here? does it lead to a conflict? and I think the more honest and painful and true to Zhilan and Nicky’s characters, was that it would instead mark the end of their partnership as it’s existed thus far, but that ultimately, you know, Zhilan would not fly off the handle and Nicky, that she would actually sort of take us on herself and reassess her future in light of what happened.
And speaking of partnerships, can you talk about where Nicky and Henry are now in their relationship, as we might go into Season 4?
BERENS: What we love about where we leave Nicky and Henry is that I think they both love each other, and they both see a potential future with each other. But I think Nicky realizes at the end of the season in kind of an epiphany… you know, it all happens very quickly… she has a lot of living left to do. We talked a lot in the room about what led Nicky to run away from home in the first place. Those needs for adventure for being out in the world… were those satisfied by her time in the monastery, by coming home? And so as much as she loves her family, as much as she loves Henry and has come back around to him, their relationship, and their original spark, there’s still a need for her to explore the world on our own terms and on her own two feet.
More or less everyone in her family is safe and happy and everyone is kind of a hero with their own destinies and journeys ahead of them, and she’s realizing that “if not now, when?” It’s actually time for her to go out and explore the world on her own, and I think Henry understands that too. It also brought us full circle to the miscommunication – was it a breakup, was it not? – at the end of Season 2. This is kind of Nicky and Henry saying goodbye to each other for now, in an honest and direct way. It isn’t fueling drama, but it’s actually just giving the opportunity for them both to grow as individuals out in the world.
Be sure to check out Kung Fu on The CW app, CWTV.com and HBO Max and cross your fingers with us as we hope for Season 4!
