Into the Badlands debuts premiere, teases final episodes at C2E2 2019

After leaving fans hanging back in June at its midseason finale, AMC's post-apocalyptic tale of neo-samurai, faction politics, and supernaturalism Into the Badlands is returning to the small screens to give fans the final episode they deserve before ending after three seasons. And at its C2E2 panel, it showed off the last premiere it'll ever have.

SYFY WIRE was in attendance as the episode aired early - showing off many fights (Minerva aka The Widow vs. The Master, Pilgrim vs. Sunny, Bajie vs. one of the 8 empowered Harbingers) and plenty of twisty drama. And it all ends with tidings of a coming, black-eyed war and our hero being defenestrated by an old friend. Basically, it was awesome. "Chamber of the Scorpion" kicked all kinds of ass and had its creators there to explain how.

The AMC show followed up the screening with a Q&A that featured star Daniel Wu alongside co-creators Al Gough and Miles Millar. The creators talked about the show's diversity and progressive bent, one that occurs without agenda but with effort, but the real star of the panel was the star of show himself. Wu explained that he didn't think he'd be starring in the show since he was 40 when the show began, the logic being that a long-running show needs a young star to keep the martial arts action going throughout its tenure. After auditioning all the actors who'd fit the part, the creators turned to Wu, who was just onboard as an executive producer at the time, and told him that it had to be him.

Wu said that Sunny is his favorite character he's ever played, citing the various and complex arcs he goes on season after season. He also said that without making the fight scenes matter to the plot, then action shows become "like porn," where you fast forward through the story. Thankfully, Into the Badlands never feels pornographic - though it did show off an exciting preview of what's to come over the show's final episodes.

Millar revealed that he directed two episodes in the back half of the season, which will feature parts of Sunny's backstory - including new characters, like Sunny's sister. Then came the clip of the upcoming episode on Monday: The Widow has her gift back and some ninjas never stood a chance. That means she's on the side of The Master - which has plenty of implications of its own.

Into the Badlands returns to AMC tomorrow, March 24.

You can find the rest of SYFY WIRE's C2E2 coverage here.