AMC, which has produced Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, has announced that it will make a new martial arts drama, Badlands, loosely based on one of the four classics of Chinese literature - “Journey to the West”.

Badlands will tell the story of a great warrior and a young boy who team up to journey across a dangerous land in search of enlightenment.

The first season of the show, which is to be aired in late 2015 or in 2016, has six one-hour episodes.

The show has been created by Al Gough and Miles Millar, who worked on Smallville. Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung will co-produce the show along with Michael Shamberg, who worked on Django Unchained.

AMC's Executive Vice President for Original Programming, Joel Stillerman, said: “This creative team has so much expertise in bringing a fresh take to classic genres from their film and television experience, and their take on martial arts will be no exception."

In spite of the high-class production team assembled by AMC, Badlands has stirred controversy among Chinese netizens.

Some are worried that the adapted show will do a dis-service to the classic Chinese work. They are afraid the adaptation will spoil the classic and ruin their cherished childhood memories. But others are optimistic. They take the view that American TV series have captured global audiences with the quality of their production, their diverse themes, and their unswerving quest for art. American TV broadcasters place the highest value on their audience share. Once a drama begins to lose its audience appeal, it will be dropped without hesitation. Why not expect something awesome from Badlands?

The article is edited and translated from 《西游记》拍美剧 网友不看好；Source: Beijing Youth Daily.