Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and HBO seem to all be competing to create the best “Original” TV series. So far Netflix has the upper hand with popular series like Orange is the New Black, A Series of Unfortunate Events, House of Cards, several Marvel Universe series, and of course we cannot forget the much anticipated return of Stranger Things. But HBO too has hit it big with Westworld, Game of Thrones, and most recently The Young Pope. In comparison, Hulu and Amazon are falling short.
In 2017, Hulu is looking forward to Harlots, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Future Man. Amazon might be able to up its game as well with their new crime drama Too Old To Die Young. The show will dive straight in with ten episodes, according to A.V. Club, which will start film production next fall. No casting decisions have yet been made, but Variety reports that some big-name stars are definitely being scoped out. Meanwhile, the multi-talented Nicolas Winding Refn will play the role of producer, director, and co-writer in this divergence from his usual feature films.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Too Old To Die Young will “explore the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles by following characters’ existential journeys from being killers to becoming samurai’s in the City of Angels.”
Wait, did that just say “samurai”?
Though the show is still too new to officially publish any details, it is safe to say that Refn and his co-writer Ed Brubaker will not be writing a reboot of Law and Order, or even a knockoff of shows like Narcos or How to Get Away With Murder. That single word “samurai” sparks off endless imaginative possibilities. The concept of shady characters and crooked officials becoming the samurai of Los Angeles, with a strict code of honor and possibly serving an ultimate mysterious and powerful lord, is novel to say the least. Just the mention of this often-misunderstood, yet culturally fascinating, element of samurai inspires so many questions already, the least of which; “Will they have swords?” (Or dare we say katanas?)
Amazon’s last straight-to-series project Goliath has not continued past it’s original eight episodes, but the flexible medium of the episodic crime drama may allow Too Old to Die Young to become the kind of longer running series bringing success to Netflix and HBO. On the other hand, the unique style of Refn’s previous works like The Neon Demon (2016) and Drive (2011) make it unlikely that Too Old to Die Young will be a cookie cutter crime drama. And then there are the samurai to consider.