Original subtitles

Empty your mind.

Be formless. Shapeless.

Like water.

Now, you put water into a cup...

it becomes the cup.

You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.

You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now, water can flow or it can crash.

Be water, my friend.

♪ (WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

(SWORD RINGS)

JUSTIN LIN: Casting the main character Ah Sahm,

I knew it was gonna be a challenge

to find someone to play the role,

and it was gonna be a global search.

It was a tall order.

You're looking for an actor who is compelling

and can handle all the drama and vulnerability

but is also really funny, who can also fight.

SHANNON LEE: There was just something so introspective

but also, like, sort of quietly fierce about Andrew

that really just felt right.

ANDREW KOJI: I never thought I'd be able to play Ah Sahm

because I'd never seen a lead Asian on a show before.

(EXHALES) I'm blessed. I get to do this?

Andrew came in...

I'm not making any promises.

...and he blew us away.

This is why you wanna tell these stories.

You wanna find people who come in and seize it.

And in many ways, that is, to me,

kinda embodies what Bruce Lee is all about.

-(PUNCH LANDS) -(GRUNTS)

Casting the show, we looked all over the world,

and we found Koji in England, we found Jason in Hong Kong,

we found Joe in Indonesia, we found Dianne in L.A.,

we found Olivia in Canada,

and we have Hoon Lee, who played Job on Banshee.

My goal with this show was to have an interweaving story

for 11 or 12 characters but it felt really important to me

to include both the police force

and the mayor and the executive branch.

KOJI: Jonathan had quite a huge vision for this show.

He wanted to find that kind of balance

between, you know, styled pulp and the period.

JONATHAN TROPPER: This show exists in its own universe.

We did a few things to just really make sure that there was

a signature look and feel to this show

so it couldn't be mistaken for a historical docudrama,

which is why you see

Tong members wearing Armani suits.

The wardrobe is really interesting on this show

because on one hand, you don't want people

looking like they just walked out of 2019,

but at the same time,

you want it to have that contemporary feel.

DIANA CILLIERS: In this era in fashion,

it is an absolutely hot thing at the moment

for Asian and Western fashion to sort of fuse.

Using period and mixing it with some contemporary,

which was really, really exciting.

And then, the extra challenge

for all the characters who fight,

they had to be able to move in their clothes.

KOJI: Feels weird to fight in a suit.

Looks good.

(LAUGHS)

They really had to figure out,

"Okay, how do these guys look really cool,

look true to period,

but have a sort of postmodern flair

and not split their pants?"

(GRUNTING)

The wardrobe is highly fashionable.

There's huge trains, there's corsets and jewelry.

They've been incredibly open and willing and eager

to discuss the aspects of character

that would inform costume.

Every piece has a story.

What colors Mai Ling would wear, what sleeve shapes.

It gives you a kind of deportment

that we don't have in modern life.

You know, they'd walk in a certain way,

they'd wear the gloves, the hats, the stick.

And then suddenly you see them walking around on the set.

That's when it started to feel really real.

We knew that we wanted this world to be very tactile.

And so that meant that we would have to build.

Recreating 1878 San Francisco,

you're gonna be starting from scratch.

And then there was a lot of discussion

about scale and the scope of what we were gonna be able

to create for a backlot.

For 24 hours, we just sat talking about,

"We have to build a set that we can reuse."

The Chinatown backlot we built

has multiple streets and alleyways

which can be redressed

to make it feel like an entire city.

It's pretty remarkable.

We built hills,

we have Chinatown streets, we have Irishtown.

The fact that the set is so comprehensive and so detailed,

you don't have to expend any extra energy,

you just are in this world.

We tried to avoid having

green screens and blue screens all over the place.

The thing that struck me when I first stepped on the backlot

was not only this replica of San Francisco Chinatown,

but also the care that set deck had taken

with even populating food stands

with real food and real smells.

They make use of a lot

of the historic buildings in Cape Town as well.

We shot at City Hall.

The photographs I've seen of San Francisco 140 years ago,

pretty accurate.

DANIELLE WOODROW: The opening scene of the pilot,

it's Ah Sahm walking off the boat in blackness

and we kind of knew that that shot was key.

You see the door open, and you see America.

This is an American story, and we are experiencing

what it feels like for our hero coming into this world.

I like to think that Bruce Lee,

if he saw the show, he would be proud.

I think we made a very concerted effort to celebrate

why he was doing it, what he was trying to do.

(YELLING)

There's just so much care and love in this work.

It's pretty mindblowing and I'm just grateful to be here.

It's an action series, but with heart,

with a message, style, and substance.

You've got fantastic styling,

you've got a great narrative, you've got huge characters.

TOM WESTON-JONES: The show itself,

it's a melting pot, which is what America really is.

JASON TOBIN: The history of the show being an idea

that Bruce Lee created,

it's such an honor and a privilege.

I mean, just don't tell the little kid I was

that my name is coming right after Bruce Lee's name

on a TV show because...

I just don't think I ever would have believed that's possible.

KOJI: Bruce Lee, I'm eternally grateful to that man

'cause I'm somehow here right now because of him.

SHANNON LEE: To take my father's idea,

give it life, give it a voice, adding to his legacy,

to be able to correct some Hollywood wrongs,

to cast an Asian cast that is so talented,

it's an amazing moment.

BRUCE LEE:

(SWORD RINGS)

♪ (WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

-(MEN GRUNTING) -(CROWD YELLING)

(SWORD RINGS)