Kung Fu: The Legend Continues

Kwai Chang Caine runs a Shaolin temple in Northern California when a ruthless priest named Tan destroys the place and scatters the lives tied to it. Caine and his young son, Peter, each believe the other has been killed, and they grow up on separate tracks: Caine wandering and teaching Shaolin ways, Peter becoming a police officer in 1990s urban America. Years later their paths cross, and father and son have to reconcile very different outlooks on justice and duty while confronting Tan and the kinds of crime and corruption that make the city feel like a new Wild West. The series mixes martial arts action with moral reflection as Caine applies ancient practice to modern problems.

Released in 1993, the show was created by Ed Spielman and stars David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, with Chris Potter as Peter Caine, Kim Chan as Lo Si, Kate Trotter and Scott Wentworth in supporting roles, updating a familiar character for a contemporary television audience.

While it never dominated mainstream pop culture, the series kept Shaolin philosophy and martial arts visible on network television in the 1990s, and Carradine reprising the role helped maintain the character's profile. Fight sequences and the father-son dynamic gave the show a recognizable identity among action drama viewers and genre collectors.

Critical reception was mixed, reflected in modest audience ratings like a 6.682/10 average from a small sample of votes. Reviewers and fans tended to focus on the contrast between Eastern principles and Western law, the moral lessons threaded through episodic cases, and the way the show balanced quieter philosophical scenes with hand-to-hand combat and procedural elements.

The series did not rack up major industry awards, but it found a steady audience that appreciated Carradine's return to a defining role and the show's unusual blend of martial arts, moral inquiry, and episodic policing. Over time it developed a modest cult following among viewers who like thoughtful action television.