Outlander and Grey's Anatomy casting hints Warrior is definitely over

I would love to see Netflix save Warrior, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. Outlander and Grey's Anatomy casting hint at that.

Warrior Season 2 -- Photograph by Graham Bartholomew/Cinemax
Warrior Season 2 -- Photograph by Graham Bartholomew/Cinemax

I want more Warrior. There is no doubt about that. It’s a cancellation from 2023 that I absolutely hate, and I would love to see Netflix step in to save it.

The bad news is that it’s looking less and less likely that it will happen. We’re almost four months out from Netflix putting all three seasons of the series on the platform, and there has not been a decision to renew the show.

Now casting updates are leading to a renewal being less and less likely. The actors are moving onto other projects, as they have to, and that could make getting them back for a fourth season of Warrior much harder.

Dianne Doan was in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 finale

If you watch broadcast TV, you’ll see that Dianne Doan has popped up in a couple of shows recently. She was in one episode of Tracker, where she took on the role of a young fighter abducted to pay off a loan shark debt. That was a one-off appearance, so not as concerning for Warrior fans as her next role.

After that, she popped up in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 finale as a woman suffering from breathing issues after the wildfires spread across Seattle. She has asthma, and she ended up struggling to breathe at one point. Her role initially looked like it would be a one-off role for the episode, but then a moment at the end of the season hinted that there could be more.

Kwan rushed over to help her breathe as she struggled. She looked at him and asked if she knew him—earlier in the episode, she shared that she had been in a coma and forgot her whole life. Well, it turns out that she did know Kwan, but he pretended she didn’t. Kwan told Adams that this woman was his fiancée. This certainly hints that she could come back in Grey’s Anatomy Season 21. There’s no way that the show will leave that storyline hanging.

Kieran Bew is coming into Outlander Season 8

Doan isn’t the only actor from Warrior stepping into a bigger role. Bew is coming into Outlander Season 8 as Captain Charles Cunningham. Now, this role may only be for a few episodes, but it will still take up a lot of time right now. Should Netflix suddenly decide to save Warrior, production wouldn’t be able to start up all that quickly with Bew and others elsewhere on projects.

Cunningham has a relatively minor role in the grand scheme of things in Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, but it’s a major role for Claire and Jamie’s story. We’ll see him lead an attack against the Frasers, with the intent of handing Jamie over to the Crown as a traitor.

None of these roles rule out Warrior completely. It just looks like the stars are ready to accept the show’s fate and move onto other roles.