EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Hu (BMF, Finding O’Hana) has joined the recurring cast of the Netflix drama series Untamed, from Warner Bros. Television and studio-based John Wells Productions.
Written by Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith, Untamed is a character-driven mystery-thriller that follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park and in his own past.
In its second season, the series follows special agent Kyle Turner as he’s called to investigate a mysterious death in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, where local tensions and the volatile, living landscape become an unpredictable force.
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Hu will play Awapuhi, born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, she’s spent the last few years in Oahu fighting her own inner battles. After the death of her son, she returns to The Big Island to face the demons she left behind.
The Season 1 cast also included Sam Neill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago, and Wilson Bethel. Season 2 will welcome Shea Whigham as a series regular in the role of Ray Burkart, who moved from California to the Big Island of Hawaii 30 years ago, and has a hand in various businesses, some more legal than others. After suffering the tragic loss of his son, Burkart clashes with Turner in their search for his son’s killer.
As we recently reported, Unlike Season 1, which was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, standing in for Yosemite, Season 2 will be shot in Hawaii. Like Season 1, it will consist of 6 episodes. Production is slated to begin in the spring.
Untamed‘s executive producers include Mark L. Smith, Elle Smith, Bana, Wells, and Erin Jontow via John Wells Productions, which is under an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television, Todd Black and Tony Shaw for Escape Artists Entertainment, Steve Lee Jones for Bee Holder Productions, and Cliff Roberts for Syndicate Entertainment.
Hu is best known for her roles as Lady Deathstrike in the X-Men franchise and The Sorceress in The Scorpion King franchise. She most recently starred as Detective Veronica Jin in Seasons 2 and 3 of the hit Starz series Black Mafia Family. She also recurred opposite Jimmy Smits in the CBS series East New York.
Hu starred in the Netflix feature Finding ‘Ohana, directed by Jude Weng, Lifetime’s centerpiece movie during their annual Stop Breast Cancer for Life Initiative, List of a Lifetime, and Fallen Angels Book Club opposite Toni Braxton and Eddie Cibrian. Additional TV credits include recurring roles in LA’s Finest, Arrow (CW), The Orville (Fox), Warehouse 13 (Syfy), and Dietland (AMC). Hu is repped by represented by Artium Talent and managed by Mainstay Entertainment.