Following the phenomenal success of AMC's The Walking Dead, Into the Badlands season 3 finale could have changed everything.

"As soon as you find one [gun], then that means there are a lot more, and then you get into ‘well, what happened to all the weapons?"

Throughout Into The Badlands, characters use a variety of different swords, butterfly-shaped throwing stars (The Widow's iconic weapons), and Nathaniel's dart-firing, blade-carrying prosthetic hand, but, guns are never seen until the end of Into The Badlands. In the very last scene, Pilgrim follower Eli discovers "the Evil" that the Master spoke of: a revolver buried under the rubble of the Meridian Chamber. Eli fires it, and this moment would have set up a completely different world if Into The Badlands season 4 had been made. Guns would change the way the characters fought, and also place gun owners against the law.

Guns Were Banned Centuries Ago In Into The Badlands

The Martial Arts Fight Scenes Set Into The Badlands Apart As A Series

Eli finds a gun in the rubble in Into The Badlands, as a fire burns in the background.

The Into The Badlands pilot episode explains that guns have been outlawed, which means that a character in possession of a gun (and the technology to make more, or at least, bullets) is likely to either be pitted against the Barons or forced to ally with them, as guns almost certainly mean power. It is never made clear until, potentially, the last scene, if characters even know how to make or shoot a gun, but the series implied that gun knowledge had been lost over time, allowing Into The Badlands to develop its greatest strength.

Into the Badlands Final Battle
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Into The Badlands’ Final Battle Is The Best Martial Arts Fight Ever On TV

Into the Badlands saves the best for last with its series finale, which features the most beautifully choreographed martial arts sequence ever on TV.

Martial arts and the apocalypse is a genre fusion that has rarely been explored, especially without guns, and Into The Badlands has been immensely creative with its fight scenes, often including classic martial arts shots, like filming from above and close-up focus on the fighters' facial expressions. Though the series does have a superpower element in the form of The Gift, some of the best fight scenes in Into The Badlands have relied on weapons handling and making use of scenery, like the River King fight, which takes place on a boat and uses fishhooks and barrels.

Who Was Responsible For Outlawing Guns?

Showrunner Al Gough Addressed An Into The Badlands Gun Storyline

Showrunners confirmed that Into The Badlands, so the original seven Barons created a Foundation Treaty, containing rules for them all to follow. The first 15 minutes of the series state that guns were outlawed, but although Into The Badlands does not explain who is responsible for this gun ban, the first Barons are good candidates. This treaty could have outlawed guns and mandated melting down the remaining ones, or repurposing them into other explosives. The episode Nightingale Sings No More shows that the world of Into The Badlands contains bombs, so this is possible.

Into The Badlands was nominated for a Saturn Award in 2018, for Best Action-Thriller Television Series.

Showrunner Al Gough told The Wrap that he felt that introducing guns back to Into The Badlands would end the show, but addressed the idea of a gun-focused plot, saying "As soon as you find one [gun], then that means there are a lot more, and then you get into ‘well, what happened to all the weapons?" When Eli found the revolver, Into The Badlands might have been preparing to tell audiences where the weapons are, but, as the series was canceled after season 3 aired, that question might never be answered.

Source: The Wrap

Into the Badlands tv poster

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Into the Badlands
Action
Adventure
Drama
10.0/10
Release Date
2015 - 2019-00-00
Network
AMC
Showrunner
Miles Millar

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Madeleine Mantock
    Madeleine Mantock
  • Cast Placeholder Image
    Ella-Rae Smith

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Into the Badlands follows Sunny (Daniel Wu) and M.K. (Aramis Knight), who traverse a post-apocalyptic world set 500 years in the future. Premiering in 2015, Into the Badlands was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and aired on AMC until 2019 when its third season came to a close.