June’s most anticipated TV series was filmed in South Africa

Warrior Season 3 has been voted as June’s most anticipated series by Rotten Tomatoes’ fans. And whilst set in the ruthless world of late 19th Century San Francisco, the HBO series is filmed exclusively in Cape Town, South Africa where SA film crew members have been credited for their world-class professionalism.

The large Chinatown sets were built at the Cape Town Film Studios. Filmed in the Western Cape with Moonlighting, Warrior was nominated for two Emmys as well as Best Action Series at the Critics Choice Super Awards. The series is created by Jonathan Tropper (Banshee) and based on the writings of martial arts icon Bruce Lee, with Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee and Justin Lin (director of five Fast and Furious films) among its executive producers.

Featuring the 18VSNL series as one their June picks, IMDb says, “If you’re a fan of martial arts, Westerns, historical dramas, and insanely cool fight scenes, this Bruce Lee-inspired crime drama is not to be missed.”

Warrior S3 features several South African actors

Mark Dacascos (John Wick: Chapter 3) joins the cast this season as former gang leader Kong Pak, as do a number of South Africans, including former Idols presenter Colin Moss as mayoral candidate Franklin Thayer, Neels Classen (Binnelanders, Kompleks) as the city’s new chief of police, Benjamin Atwood, and Sean-Marco Vorster (Alles Malan, Legacy) as San Francisco political insider Stewart Gumm. South African star Langley Kirkwood (Banshee) is back as Walter Buckley, while SAFTA nominee Robert Hobbs (District 9) and Andre Jacobs (Black Sails) return in their roles as Stone and Merriweather respectively.

What is Warrior Season 3 about?

In the wake of the race riots that upended Chinatown in Season 2, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Descendants) uses her government connections to consolidate power, while Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji from Bullet Train, in a Critics Choice Super-nominated performance) and the Hop Wei tong must find new ways to survive.

When and where can I watch Warrior S3 in South Africa?

Warrior S3 will start streaming on Showmax, Fridays from 30 June, express from the US.

Warrior has an 8.4/10 rating on IMDb and a 100% critics’ rating for Season 2 on Rotten Tomatoes. Inverse hails Warrior as “the most underrated action series of the century”; The Ringer calls it “a supremely kick-ass and criminally underappreciated martial arts Western” and Vox says, “Warrior feels like if Peaky Blinders starred Bruce Lee and was set in 1870s Chinatown.”

Watch the S3 trailer, which already has over 1.4m views, here:

While you wait, binge the first two seasons here:
https://www.showmax.com/eng/tvseries/bnb6ah2d-warrior