The animated series Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight sees the continuation of Jack Black as Po in the franchise. The series follows Po as he is faced with leaving the comfort of his home in order to find redemption and justice while partnered up with an English Knight named Wandering Blade. Together, they must stop a pair of untrustworthy weasels who aim to collect and use magically powerful weapons.

Black plays the loveable Po in the series, alongside Rita Ora as Wandering Blade, James Hong as Mr. Ping, Chris Geere as Klaus Dumont, Della Saba as Veruca Dumont, Rahnuma Panthaky as Rukhmini, Ed Weeks as Coling, and Amy Hill as Pei Pei. The series has 11 episodes, which premiere globally on Netflix on July 14, 2022.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

In celebration of its release, executive producers Peter Hastings (The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness) and Shaunt Nigoghossian (Blood of Zeus) joined MovieWeb to talk about the making of it.

Continuing the Kung Fu Panda Franchise & New Characters

“We’re super excited for a variety of reasons. We’re really excited that Jack Black is doing the show. He’s been super incredible and fun to work with. Poe is Jack Black, then bringing in Rita Ora to play Wandering Blade, she’s been great. Basically, the two of them go off on this completely new adventure and meet new characters while staying very much in the Kung Fu Panda world. And also, we’ve been able to push visually out in new ways that the Kung Fu Panda world hasn’t seen. We’re pretty pumped,” commented Hastings.

“He’s a lovable loser,” added Nigoghossian, jokingly. “He’s the underdog in everything. He’s funny, and if you look at the lead character in other shows, if you look at Superman, Batman, or Optimus Prime, they’re great at everything. They’re very stoic and they’re amazing leaders… but you have to make them not lose a lot. And that’s really challenging. With Po, he can lose… he can get his feelings hurt, he can be weak, and yet he still has the strength and is able to fight… He’s a great hero because you can write and draw him and design everything around him completely more freely than any other character.”

As for the newly introduced characters, like Wandering Blade and the weasels, Hastings commented that they were remarkable to create. “We’ve had a lot of fun introducing new characters… Wandering Blade and the villains… they gave great vocal performances, they have great design, and really all those pieces came together with those guys. Then, you know, we pick up these kind of secondary characters along the way and as we’re writing we went, ‘Let’s use them again, and again,’ and then they become actually integral in a very natural way to the story.”

“It usually starts with the script. There’s some very basic description… and then we get into our fantastic design team, and they start very broadly… we all discuss it… like what are their attitudes? What works with the other stuff? What’s easy or difficult to animate? And there are all these technical, emotional storytelling designs that go into figuring out what they will look like,” continued Hastings, discussing how the new characters came to be.

“We discussed fighting style… we don’t want someone to fight the way Po fights, we don’t want someone to fight the way Blade fights. So, how do we shape their body, what animal do we choose, and what jewelry or trinkets do they have that they use in fights? All of these things get discussed,” added Nigoghossian.

Things to Look Out for in Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight

     Netflix

Of course, being of the notoriety that Kung Fu Panda is, there are certain elements that audiences expect from the series. Hastings and Nigoghossian noted that those are certainly present with the addition of more.

“The expectations will be met about his [Po] comedy and how he goofs around, and we’re of course going to have action sequences… I think one that’s a little different about this particular series, is when we bring it into the level of emotions that happen, there’s some darkness… and there are some people with tough backstories that explain the way they’re behaving. Those are things that you don’t typically get into, certainly not in a comedy series, but this is really a comedy-adventure series. So, those are parts that I’m excited for people to see,” said Hastings.

“It’s pretty good-looking. The technology has come a long way. Sometimes we do these really close-up shots, and you really see every little fur, and it’s reflecting differently on the different lights that are around… It’s a beautiful show,” commented Nigoghossian.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight is a production of DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation, and Pearl Studio.