(Photo by: Justine Yeung/The CW)
Nicky won’t back to protect her family and community in the 2023-24 broadcast season. The CW has cancelled the Kung Fu reboot so that it won’t return for a fourth year.
A martial arts action-adventure TV show, the Kung Fu TV show stars Olivia Liang, Kheng Hua Tan, Shannon Dang, Jon Prasida, Eddie Liu, Gavin Stenhouse, Vanessa Kai, Yvonne Chapman, Tony Chung, JB Tadena, and Tzi Ma. The series revolves around Nicky Shen (Liang), a young Chinese American woman who questions her life’s trajectory and drops out of college to go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. When Nicky returns to San Francisco, she finds that her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption. The third season picks up after an earthquake and Nicky, her family, and her community attempting to rebuild in more ways than one. Nicky, still reeling from her abrupt breakup with her boyfriend Henry (Liu), and the shocking death of her nemesis-turned-ally Zhilan (Chapman), puts on a brave face as she juggles a new job teaching kung fu while fighting a growing crimewave in San Francisco.
The third season of Kung Fu averages a 0.07 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 405,000 viewers in the live+same day ratings (includes all DVR playback through 3:00 AM). Compared to season two, that’s down by 18% in the demo and down by 20% in viewership. Compared to the rest of the network’s scripted series, Kung Fu was a middle-of-the-road performer. In the live+7 day ratings, the series nearly doubled its viewership.
In days gone by, those ratings would have been enough to land the series a fourth-season renewal. However, now that The CW is primarily owned by Nexstar, the network is focusing on airing inexpensive programming — primarily unscripted and acquired series.
Management has said the goal is for the network to become profitable by 2025. and part of that plan includes cancelling most original programming. All American and Walker have been renewed, while The Winchesters and Walker: Independence have been axed.
The de facto series finale of the Kung Fu series aired in early March.
What do you think? Have you enjoyed the Kung Fu TV series on The CW? Are you disappointed this action series has been cancelled instead of renewed for a fourth season?