AMC ventures 'Into the Badlands' with action saga

In action terms, “Into the Badlands” is a little of this and a little of that ... and that's exactly how its creator-producers want it.

Combining modern and ancient elements yet set in the future, the AMC series premieres Sunday, Nov. 15 — and its mentors, “Smallville” and “Spider-Man 2” veterans Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, agree that it's a mash-up of virtually everything they've done before it. Martial-arts masters Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung also are executive producers, with Wu starring as the ironically named Sunny, a celebrated Clipper (or warrior) in a desolate area where he saves young M.K. (Aramis Knight) and then mentors him at a feudal outpost known as The Fort.

“It's everything we love put into a blender, and this is what came out,” Millar allows of “Into the Badlands,” which also was inspired loosely by a 16th-century Chinese novel (“Journey to the West”). “Martial arts, superpowers, the society of ancient Japan ... we put it all together and created something that's original in its own way with references, if you're a movie buff, to things you know that way as well.”

Aspects of Millar and Gough's “Shanghai Noon,” which starred Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, certainly factor into “Into the Badlands” — particularly since the director of the sequel “Shanghai Knights,” David Dobkin, also is involved in the new series. “When we pitched the show to AMC,” Gough reflects, “we said that in order to get the martial-arts aspect right, you needed a full-time Hong Kong fight unit to do it. Having worked with him, we knew David could bring the American cable-drama sensibility, but he also understood how to work with a fight unit.”

Millar adds of the participation of fight director Fung, “There's a distinct difference between how you shoot Western-style action in a traditional movie or TV show, and how you shoot Hong Kong-style. It's about seeing your hero really fight, and that was the key in terms of making this feel authentic. The action is as important as the drama, and what really makes the show unique is giving respect to that element. That's why the fights are like nothing you've ever seen before.”

The producers also made that attempt earlier with star Sammo Hung in the late-'90s CBS series “Martial Law,” and they knew they had to get their principal “Into the Badlands” casting just right.

“Daniel was in as an executive producer from the beginning,” reports Gough. “We sort of wrote it with him in the back of our minds, but he was like, ‘I'm too old. I don't know if I could take the regimen of training.' He screen-tested with a couple of other guys, to make sure he could look legitimate. Then, casting Aramis was a big piece of the puzzle.”

Millar and Gough aimed “Into the Badlands” specifically for AMC, given the cable network's track record with series on the order of “The Walking Dead” and “Hell on Wheels.”

“They bought it in the room (during the initial pitch),” Gough says. “Honestly, they were all in. They're a network of big swings, and they take pride in that — so you bring them your passion project and tell them, ‘We want to do this martial-arts show set in the future with a Hong Kong fight team.' And they really didn't blink.”