The highly anticipated third and final season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga drops February 15 on Hulu in what’s bound to be a memorable ride. From creators RZA (Kung fu Révolution(s), Poker Face) and Alex Tse (Watchmen, Sucker Free City), and executive producers Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, Arrested Development, Apollo 13) and Method Man (Power Book II: Ghost, Marvels), the creators push the limits during these final episodes as trust, financial resources, and maintaining a creative vision for the titular hip hop group’s success all come into play.

To be sure, Wu-Tang Clan has left an indelible impression on the music industry and hip hop culture. The group formed back in 1992 on Staten Island with RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. The series, which found its groove with fans, was inspired by the books “The Wu-Tang Manual” and its follow-up “Tao of Wu,” which were both penned by group’s frontman RZA.
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Setting the series during the height of the crack epidemic in ’90s-era New York was an inventive move as the show tracks the titular hip hop fellas—from friendships to becoming the most successful musical groups in American history, selling 40 million albums worldwide and releasing five gold and platinum albums.

What can we expect in the third and final season? Just off the debut of their debut album and their continued rise to fame, viewers continue following Wu-Tang Clan over the course of their five-year mission to become successful. As each of the members go on separate journeys to understand where they fit in the ever-evolving music world, money, fame, ego, and business threaten to tear the group apart. Suddenly, they must find a way to come together and ground their legacy. RZA and Tse break down the final season with MovieWeb.

RZA on the Final Season

In the season three trailer of Wu-Tang: An American Saga, an assuring voiceover tells us: “We are all our ancestors’ dreams, and our success represents those dreams coming true.” RZA is quick to note there’s a great deal at stake in season three, chief among them how everybody deals with success and staying true to their creative ideal.

“What’s most at stake this season is the idea of how do you navigate success and who are the people you love—and the people who will potentially oppose you. That’s the big question,” RZA explained. “And what does success do to you? Does money and success corrupt? I think those were some questions we wanted to ask this season.”

By all accounts, RZA is a fascinating force of nature. In addition to his music, music videos, and voice talent, he’s expanded his creative universe and acted in a variety of roles over the last 15 years. When asked how creating the show and seeing its vision through to the very end—and how that changed him—he waxed philosophical.

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“Well, I’m always deep. Listen, at the end of the day, my vision to tell this story was to inspire and show the Wu-Tang legacy, and what we brought to the world. That’s one thing and what we wanted to create as storytellers,” he said. “We wanted to make sure we chose something that was intriguing. The beauty of it is that—guess what? We didn’t have to make it up out of our heads, we have a whole well of our history, music, and life to pull from.”

He added that it felt somewhat intimidating creating a scripted docuseries from the get-go. Finding the right creative beats was vital. “It was daunting, but look—it’s been five years of this show, and we were showrunners, right? When I finished directing my first film, I said that was the hardest job, but no—showrunning is the hardest job. So as soon as I chose to partner up with Alex and go through that experience, it’s been enlightening.”

“And getting to the third season—our final season—is going to be more than fairly rewarding for me,” he added. “Being able to claim the show in Hollywood, living to make a living to three seasons, and being able to say, ‘I’m still here. I’m still physically strong.’ That’s very rewarding.”

Alex Tse on Creating a Legacy

Hulu

Wu-Tang vs. the world? That’s pretty much what viewers are led to believe watching the season three trailer. Good news: these final episodes are directed with fiery intensity and there’s a fine throughline of tension that should keep viewers invested until the show bows in April.

“I hope this season provides a map for people,” Tse said. “I hope when people finish watching that there’s a map not just for musical success, but for success in general—even success mentally.”

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He also he felt it was important to note that the group is still at it today, some three decades after they began. “The ‘real’ Wu-Tang Clan is still out there selling out concerts,” he noted. “To know that it’s sustainable is important to see, especially for hip hop and hip hop artists, because there’s an ageism, unfortunately, that tends to exist within this particular music genre. So, I think that’s an important thing for people to walk away from and see.”

Tse, who garnered acclaim for writing Watchmen, felt this series held similar weight. “Watchmen changed my life. It had a huge fanboy base, and it was one of those things where, ‘you better not [expletive] this one up!’ Having had that experience helped me prepare for this particular chapter of Wu-Tang. Because I didn’t want to mess it up either—just as a fan. I was able to kind of separate myself and that helped.”

Season three of Wu-Tang: An American Saga debuts with three episodes on Feb. 15, on Hulu, with the remaining seven installments following weekly until the series finale on April 5.