When Kung Fu audiences last saw Zhilan Zhang (Yvonne Chapman), the hardened martial arts killer was battling her old nemesis Nicky Shen for control of eight mythical weapons that would give her the ultimate power boost. Nicky defeated Zhilan at the end of Season 1, avenging her fallen mentor and Zhilan's sister Pei-Ling. Her bitter rival was imprisoned for her crimes, including betraying her lover Kerwin Tan. However, Kung Fu Season 2 began with Zhilan escaping from prison after seeing visions of Pei-Ling. She soon resumes her vendetta against Kerwin's evil father Russell, reuniting her with Nicky against the common enemy threatening San Francisco.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Chapman shared how she made sure her martial arts skills and fight choreography stayed sharp for Season 2. She also praised the cast and crew for upping their game with the new season and teased how the reformed antagonist grows closer to redemption as the season continues.
CBR: I always feel like, when portraying an antagonist, there's the question of whether the character will be written out at the end of the season. How was it hearing that you would not only reprise your role as Zhilan in Kung Fu Season 2 but join the cast as a series regular?
Yvonne Chapman: I was surprised when I came back. It was always my impression that Zhilan would probably just [have] a one-season character arc. When I was invited back, I was thrilled and I was not expecting it. Just to have that phone call and hear the news that I could continue on with this story and incredible cast and crew, it was a no-brainer for me. I was really, really happy that they wanted me back.
In sitting down with co-showrunner Christina M. Kim to talk about Season 2, was there any direction you wanted to take the character?
What I really love about Zhilan this season is the opportunity to really see her stripped away from most of everything we had seen with her. In Season 1, she was so self-assured. She had a plan for everything, was always ahead of the game, had this fantastic wardrobe and amazing lair. To see someone be stripped of all of that, really in a raw and vulnerable sense when we're introduced to her in Season 2 in prison, was incredible to play because it really got down to what they beautifully built in Season 1, which was her rich backstory.
To see that come more to the forefront, which we'll get into more in Season 2, I'm really grateful for because we've done a beautiful job of not just having a villain being bad for the sake of being bad. She has very strong reasons for doing what she's doing. That's such a joy for me to play because that really grounds the work, as far as motivations for me, and we get to explore that a lot more in Season 2.
The last time we spoke, you used the metaphor of Zhilan being like a duck -- calm and collected on the surface but paddling furiously to stay afloat. What's her mindset now going into Season 2?
Well, we saw the duck flipped over in the first couple episodes this season, flapping around, to carry that metaphor further. [laughs] This season, you are seeing more of a balance because she's not as cool, calm, and collected. She still is in certain situations, but that plays nicely into her character in different dimensions. This season, she's more at an equal race with Nicky because she's discovering certain things out at an equal measure that Nicky is as well. [Zhilan is] more on the back foot this season than she is at the front of the race.
Now that you've had over a year of martial arts training and fight choreography, how was it approaching the fight sequences for Season 2?
It's definitely been different this season in terms of being able to have a year under my belt to get used to it because, in the first season, I had never done something with [that] level of choreography before ever. The learning curve in the first season was quite steep for me, but luckily we have an incredible stunt team who brought me up to speed real fast. They know what they're doing and how to train people at all levels. I'm so very grateful for them and their coaching and training. This year, because of the prep work we did last year and [because] I've been doing my own training in between seasons to keep fresh going into this season, it's still challenging but now I feel like I've leveled up a bit.
What I love about the stunts and choreography this season is it has also leveled up. They challenge us while also integrating it into the story and the emotionality, so it also helps the performances as well. It's all very collaborative in [the stunt team] working with us and hearing our ideas for what we want to bring in those fights that makes sense for the characters. The way that translates to the screen is you get to see very specific fighting skills of the characters that lead to the development of each one of them as a unique art on their own this season.
You had a big fight scene with Ludi Lin. I was speaking with him and he said he accidentally tagged you while running the choreography and felt bad about it but was impressed by you taking it in stride. How is it having him as a scene partner?
He's fantastic. It's so funny that he brought that up because, yeah, he accidentally nicked me. It really didn't hurt, but he was so apologetic. He felt so bad and kept checking up on me, but I was fine. He did not hurt me, I came out of that unscathed. He's really fantastic to work with and to have somebody that you trust in not just the choreography, but the emotional level that needs to be integrated into that fight scene, particularly the one where Zhilan and Kerwin meet again for the first time. Every single blow in that fight was meant to inform what the characters were feeling in that moment. There's a lot of trust that needs to be involved with that, and I trust him completely. To work with somebody like that in a fight like that is quite a gift. I'm really happy to have it with him.
Kerwin really helped humanize Zhilan, though she believed she killed him after attacking him at that grave. How do you think it affects her seeing him alive again?
I think from her interaction with Pei-Ling in prison and also just the time ruminating on what she's done and how that's affected her and her life, [it] really didn't amount to anything because of what she wanted from all of this, [which] was to get rid of Russell Tan. To see [Kerwin] alive again was very emotionally raw for her and also a huge sense of relief. I think the biggest regret that she had -- because she really does love him -- she gave up love to finish Russell Tan. To see him alive was [something] that she could walk away from. She can regret the action of [attacking Kerwin] but him alive brings a huge sense of relief.
Zhilan was usually one step ahead of Nicky in Kung Fu Season 1, but in Season 2 you two have a lot more scenes together as you have this will-they/won't-they about whether Nicky and Zhilan can work together. How is it having Olivia Liang as a scene partner for more scenes together than in Season 1?
I adore working with Olivia, I really do. It's so much fun every time we're on set, and she has an incredible energy that she brings with her. Because our characters are so at odds sometimes, it is really fun to play that dynamic. It's not like we're like that in real life, so to have that on-screen is an interesting time. I love to get direction between Nicky and Zhilan because it's a very interesting dynamic, especially in Season 2. We see them far more integrated, and they're imperfect in their intent of what they're trying to do.
They're united in a common goal of taking Russell Tan down, but they have very different methods of doing that. It's in those differences that we see [them] come together even more because they both know they might need each other in order to accomplish this, they just don't know how they're going to do it together. It'll be a lot of fun to see that dynamic play out. It's been fun for us to work our way through that. Shoutout to the showrunners and writers of the show because they really gave us a lot of material that's rich for us to play with the dynamic of those characters.
For this week's episode, you've got David Grossman as the director. How is it working with him behind the camera?
He's fantastic. The man is a veteran. When I saw the plot of Episode 5, the way that he knows how to maneuver the camera around those action scenes, it was on another level. When I saw the pre-viz, those are incredible with what the stunt team has been able to do for us, showing their intention behind the fight scenes and collaborating with us on that dimension, and then David taking it up another notch. Seeing that fight in its entirety, that fight is one of my favorite fights of the entire season. Pair that with the incredible music and all the choreography together, it was such a joy to see.
Yvonne, what else can you tease about Zhilan's journey through Kung Fu Season 2?
For Season 2, it's a much more integrated season between the two groups, and that's something you'll see. In Season 1, Zhilan was very much a lone wolf with the inevitable interactions that she had with Nicky, but you're going to see a lot more of that this season, particularly through the vehicle of Mia. She's such a key piece in this season, and you get to see that interplay between [Zhilan], Mia, and Nicky, and that comes for a very interesting time. [laughs] We can expect to see another run-in for the star-crossed lovers, Zhilan and Kerwin, later on in the season. Everyone can look forward to that. For [Zhilan], it's very much a season of discovery.
Developed for television by Christina M. Kim, Kung Fu airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.
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