Warrior’s excellent third season has come to a close, leaving fans hungering for more of Ah Sahm’s adventures. The martial arts drama based on Bruce Lee’s writing successfully made the move from Cinemax to Max, going bigger and bolder and finding a new audience in its new home.
The third season finale injects a lot of chaos into Chinatown, with Ah Sahm, Young Jun, Mai Ling and the rest of the cast finding themselves in new positions and facing new threats. But will Warrior, and its blossoming star Andrew Koji, get the opportunity to continue the story with a fourth season?
Here’s everything you should know about Warrior season 4 after watching the third season’s finale.
WILL THERE BE A WARRIOR SEASON 4?
Warrior has not officially been renewed or canceled by Max. But season 3 showrunners Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard told Polygon they have “many ideas” for where the story might go next, and hope the show is renewed so that they can pursue those storylines.
Warrior has also been revived before. When Cinemax announced in January 2020 that the network would no longer be producing original content, it seemed like Warrior would never see a third season. But fans organized, starting a petition with nearly 70,000 signatures, and Warner Bros. eventually agreed, bringing the show over to their new streaming platform for its third season.
WHEN WOULD THERE BE A WARRIOR SEASON 4?
Not for quite a while. Even if Max does renew the show, the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes would prevent filming or writing from taking place. Filming for season 3 took place from July through November 2022, with the series premiering about a year later. By that timeline, it seems like 2025 would be the earliest we could expect a fourth season of Warrior.
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WHAT WOULD WARRIOR SEASON 4 BE ABOUT?
This is where we start to get spoilery, so if you haven’t finished the third season, either don’t read or don’t complain about finding out what happens.
The end of Warrior season 3 saw the complete crumbling of Ah Sahm’s (Andrew Koji) and Mai Ling’s (Dianne Doan) relationships with their respective tongs, bringing the siblings back together in an unlikely alliance. A fourth season would likely see them take on Chinatown together, as Ah Sahm continues to explore what it means to be a hero and Mai Ling rediscovers her identity away from the Long Zii. Meanwhile, Li Yong (Joe Taslim) has taken over her spot as the leader of the Long Zii, promising a fearsome opponent for them in addition to other existing antagonists like Dylan Leary (Dean Jagger).
IS CHAO DEAD?
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This is the real question on everyone’s minds. Hoon Lee’s Chao has been one of Warrior’s most consistently interesting characters, and his fate was left up in the air after being stabbed at the end of the third season.
Lee also joined the writer’s room this season, getting the lead writing credit on the excellent wedding episode. As to where things go from here, Endicott confirmed Chao’s fate is not determined, and joked to Polygon that it may depend on “how much Hoon butters us up.” (In turn, Lee joked “Some people call it a plot point, some people call it a punishment. Tomato, tomahto.”)
No matter what happens to Chao, Lee is at peace with it.
“I have a strong affection for the character, so part of me was wailing and crying out into the night,” he says. “But ultimately any time you have the most interesting dramatic path, you have to take it, whatever that might be.” / INFO: polygon