The New Legends of Monkey

The New Legends of Monkey is a fantasy adventure TV series inspired by a Japanese show from the 1970s and 1980s, which itself was based on the 16th-century Chinese novel *Journey to the West*. That earlier Japanese production developed a cult following in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and South Africa. The new series is an international co-production involving the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New Zealand's TVNZ, and Netflix. Its first season, consisting of ten episodes, premiered on ABC Me in Australia on 28 January 2018, and later debuted on Netflix outside Australia and New Zealand on 28 April. A second season, also ten episodes, was released on Netflix on 7 August 2020.

The story follows a young monk, escorted by a group of gods, on a journey across an ancient, fantastical land now ruled by evil demons. Their mission is to collect lost scrolls of wisdom.

Five hundred years before the series begins, the Monkey King was imprisoned under a mountain by his enemies in Heaven. By the present day, demons have overrun the Earthly realm and oppress its humans, while gods and immortals are either in hiding or also oppressed. A scholar secretly devises a plan to gather a few warriors and a monk named Tripitaka to resurrect the Monkey King and find the Heavenly scrolls that Monkey stole and hid on Earth five centuries earlier. Whoever finds the scrolls would gain unlimited power. However, on the night the group is to begin their quest, a demon attacks the scholar’s home, killing everyone except the scholar’s adopted daughter, and steals the golden crown needed to revive the Monkey King. With his last breath, the scholar entrusts his daughter with the quest. She takes on the identity of Tripitaka and ventures out into the world, narrowly escaping death.

In a town, she gives charity to a monk and ends up forced to work for a tavern owner, gaining a job and a room. When the same demon that killed her adoptive father appears, she secretly steals the magical crown and flees. As demons search the town for her and the crown, the monk she helped disguises her as a monk, allowing her to escape the city. At an opening in a mountainside, she finds the stony face of the Monkey King and places the crown on his head. Freed, Monkey discovers the crown represses most of his godly abilities.