Tien (TV series)

Tien is an upcoming drama fantasy series developed by Jeremy Slater for Peacock. An entry in the Dragon Ball Live-action Universe (DBLU), the series stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Awkwafina, Benedict Wong, and Coy Stewart. The series centers on the titular character as he confronts his past while building his own dojo.

The series would met a generally positive reception, with critics praising its performances, action sequences, themes, and visual effects. The series would also earn an Emmy for Best Visual Effects.

Synopsis
After the fight with Majin Buu, Tienshinhan grows corncerned over how only a few people could do anything to fight him. So, he and his friend Chaps choose to create their own fighting dojo, but how can someone whose trauma's come from his childhood in a dojo create one? This is the question Tien must resolve as a face from his past reemerges and seeks revenge, threatening to destroy everything he built.

Main cast

 * Hiroyuki Sanada as Tienshinhan, a former member of the Crane School who trues to built his own dojo.
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessey as the voice of Chaos, Tien's best friend.
 * Awkwafina as Yurin, a former Crane School student who seeks revenge on Tien for leaving her vulnerable to Master Shen's abuse.
 * Benedict Wong as Master Roshi, a martial arts master and friend of Tien's.
 * Coy Stewart as Wakai, a student of Tien's.

Guest cast

 * Chloe Bennet as Bulma, a friend of Tien's and his benefactor, who is the owner of the Capsule Corporation.
 * Anna Akana as Majon, Yurin's teacher.
 * Mick Wingert as the voice of Turtle, Roshi's friend and roommate.

Writing
For the series, Slater wqnted to avoid the "6 hour film" format used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seroes Moon Knight, wanting to create a series that "looked like a high-budget series and felt like a television series" while also being directly tied to the wider DBLU. Slater described the friendship between Tien and Chaos as "tye heart and center of the show", as the series explores how is each other's friendship what helps them heal from their wounds. He was also interested in exploring Tien as a master as depicted in Dragon Ball Super in spite of his film counterpart's new backstory. Slater used tge manga and anime as a "jumping off point", drawing inspiration from both without being a dirrct adaptation.

Moon Knight episode "Asylum" was an inspiration for the episode "Scars". For the climax, Slater originally planned something "quieter, more emotional", but ultimately changed it to the demon fight because those ideas "didn't felt lije Dragon Ball". However, he also wanted to prevent the episode from failing into "a generic monster fight" and implanted symbolism in it to keep the series' emotional focus.

Music
TJ Hill composed the series' score. Hill would reincorporate themes from previous DBLU projects, as well as Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z themes by Shunsuke Kikuchi, througth he would alter Tien's theme to reflect his arc througth the series. Hull would also use a variation of Tien's tje as his dojo's theme. He would also compose a theme for Yuji that "explore[s] her rage and focus, but also showcase[s] her inner pain and tragedy".

Trivia

 * Elements of the show's plot were inspured by a filler episode from Dragon Ball Super.
 * The way Yurin holds Tien hostage in episodes 1 and 2 calls back to the fight between Goku and Majin Vegeta in the anime.
 * Elizabeth Hestridge and Chloe Bennet previously worked together on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; the scenes featuring Bulma in the series were added after Hestridge was hired to direct the episode as a reunion for the two.