Warrior, Max's cancelled martial arts drama inspired by Bruce Lee, finds new life on Netflix as it rises onto the platform's Top 10 TV shows list. The period piece focuses on 1870s San Francisco during the Tong Wars, a violent conflict between various Chinese tong groups. It follows martial artist Ah Sahm who, while looking for his sister, becomes involved in Chinatown's most powerful tongs.
Now, Netflix's Global Top 10 reveals that, although Warrior was cancelled after season 3, it has found renewed interest by climbing into the streamer's Top 10 TV shows for the week of February 12 to February 18, 2024. The series climbed to Number 8 on the platform with 14.1 million hours viewed across 1.7 million viewers. The series arrived on the streamer on February 16, meaning these numbers constitute its first three days streaming.
Warrior originally aired on Cinemax, with two seasons coming out before the network stepped away from producing original programming. Season 3 came out on Max in June 2023, over two years after season 2. The final episode aired in August, with the show getting axed in December. However, Netflix acquired non-exclusive streaming rights to the show when it ended, offering it to a new audience on their platform.
Because of Netflix's acquisition, it is conceivable for Warrior season 4 to be renewed on the platform. However, while its placement in the Top 10 last week is a good sign for its future, it will have to prove itself worthy of continuing by maintaining that position. If a large enough audience gets drawn to the show, then it's possible the streaming platform could bring it back for another season.
If Netflix does save Warrior, then it can resolve the major cliffhangers and changed allegiances the end of season 3 brought about. Even so, it's unclear just how popular the series will have to get on the platform to justify a continuation. Since the show has only been on for four days as of writing, though, anything could change in the coming weeks.
Netflix previously saved another martial arts series, Cobra Kai, with season 3, after YouTube Premium stopped producing original content.
Warrior is an action-thriller television series set in the ruthless underworld of San Francisco in the late 1800s, pitting rival Chinatown syndicates against one another, the police, and a privileged and prejudiced upper class. Inspired by stories from the late Bruce Lee, the series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for Hop Wei, one of Chinatown's most powerful crime families.
