Responding to the apparently intolerable gap in the nigh-impenetrable shield of Greg Berlanti-produced content that forms the bulk of its television schedule, The CW announced tonight that it’s giving a pilot order for the long-developing Kung Fu reboot from the former Arrow megaproducer. Developed and headed up by Blindspot’s Christina M. Kim, the show would center on a Chinese-American woman who ditches out on life for a while to study to be a Shaolin Monk, then comes back to America to kick copious amounts of ass. Also, she’s being hunted by the deadly assassin who killed her master, which kicks the “How Riverdale does this premise sound?” factor for this pilot from a 6 up to like a 9.
Also getting a pilot order tonight, per Deadline: The Republic Of Sarah, a small-town drama that will presumably have way less kicking, although hey: Who knows. Developed by Elementary’s Jeffrey Paul King, the series centers on a teacher who decides to form her own country to keep a mining company from exploiting her land. No word yet on whether she’ll also be pursued by murderous assassins, but one can only hope; those kooky folks always spice things up a bit.
As Deadline notes, The CW’s not expected to run a ton of pilots this year; the network’s schedule really is well and truly packed, given how many shows it renewed (many of them bearing Berlanti’s name). Even then, it’s gone with direct-to-series orders for at least two of its incoming shows, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman & Lois, and the Walker reboot from Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki.