Brand new drama, Warrior inspired by the writing of the one and only warrior, Bruce Lee screens tonight on SoHo at 9:30pm and on Neon on 11 April. With the show about to go to air we got some thoughts on the show from the best source there is, Jonathon Tropper who was the Creator, Writer and Executive Producer of Warrior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How much does\nWarrior line up with what Bruce Lee envisioned for this story?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: He wrote it in a time when TV was different, but the\nessence of it was this character, Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy\nwho comes over to San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown looking for his sister, and ends up\nfinding her and getting swept up in the Tong Wars of the late 1800s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Bruce Lee\u2019s primary goal was for there to be a\nheroic lead of a Western show that was Asian, and at the same time to convey\nthe lessons of kung fu. Today, thanks to Bruce Lee, kung fu has been prevalent\nfor so many years and we don\u2019t need to introduce it. So it\u2019s more about these\ncharacters and the systemic racism that existed in America at that point – and\na fun action show with a great historical backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What are the main\nsocio-political issues the show deals with?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: Bruce Lee knew a lot about the Tong Wars and had a good idea of what was going on in the world – and what it would like to be a Chinese man in America in the 1870s.\u00a0 I then did the research and started seeing that\u2019s when they voted in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (banning the immigration of Chinese labourers), which was the first legislation against a particular nationality immigrating into our country until (the presidency of) Donald Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n