Picture: HBO
Warrior seasons 1-3 have just hit Netflix in dozens of countries, including the United States. Given the show was recently canceled, can the show prove to be a hit and get a season 4 revival? It has a steep mountain to climb, but it’s not impossible.
Set in the 19th century, the action series starring Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng, Jason Tobin, and Dianne Doan follows the Tong Wars that took place in San Fransisco. Ah Sahm is our main protagonist, who has moved from China to become a hatchet man for a notorious crime family.
The show had an unconventional life beginning at the now defunct Cinemax channel before moving to HBO Max (now called just Max) before getting the chop in December 2023 after 30 episodes and three seasons. The show arrives on Netflix as part of the recent wave of HBO shows in the US and internationally; Warrior joins the likes of Ballers, Six Feet Under, and Band of Brothers. It also notably contains both HBO Original branding in the artwork but an HBO Max sting when you load it up – confusing.
Warrior Could Be Revived for a Season 4
When Netflix licenses shows, it’s not usually done with an eye to revive them. Its licenses often show that it knows it can bank eyeballs on, and the longer those series are, the better – particularly with an emphasis on watch time as it prioritizes its ad tier.
Warrior was slightly different from the get-go, however. Deadline when they first reported on the show getting canceled also included the fact that the show could conceivably come back, according to their sources. They stated, “If it does well, Netflix could presumably order a new season of the drama based on an original concept and treatment by Bruce Lee, sources tell Deadline exclusively.”
It’s unclear who their sources are for this – could it be Netflix? Could it be people involved in the show? Could it be people from HBO?
Depending on who told them that snippet really makes a big difference in the weight of an actual potential revival, but let’s take it at face value – what would Warrior have to do to get revived?
Manifest is the blueprint for getting your show revived at Netflix
There are a few instances of shows getting revived on Netflix. In recent years, the biggest similarity has undoubtedly been Manifest. As a quick recap, Netflix added Manifest in the United States in the summer of 2021 and went on to do huge numbers. That was despite being soon canceled after its addition to Netflix. A few months later, the US got season 3, and thanks to the numbers, talks were underway on reviving for what would be a supersized final season. Other regions of Netflix received the show during this time, too, and although the show wasn’t quite the hit elsewhere that it was in the US – it still performed well.
The official Netflix top 10 viewing figures showed that Manifest was super sticky, backed up by FlixPatrol data that echoed the same sentiment, with the show surviving in the top 10s for weeks on end.
Flixpatrol Global Top 10 data for Manifest in 2021
The point we’re making here is that Warrior’s future if there is one when it comes to Netflix, all comes down to its performance in the weeks and months to come.
As of day 1 of the show being on Netflix, the series has entered the top 10 charts in over 30 countries, including the US, where it ranks #9 as of February 17th. While we don’t think the show will have to hit the monumental heights that Manifest did, it has to resemble its stickiness in some form to justify the costs of not only licensing the show in remaining territories but also the cost of producing another season.
We’ll be tracking the performance of Warrior intensely in the coming weeks and let you know how it’s getting on, whether that’s through our top 10 reports published every Wednesday or our most popular on Netflix tracking page.
Now, it’s over to you – would you like to see Warrior come back for a fourth season on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "When a plane mysteriously lands years after takeoff, the people onboard return to a world that has moved on without them and face strange new realities."
