“Casey Cloys who is now head of HBO content was really instrumental in saying let’s do this. When Justin and JT [Tropper] approached him he was really receptive. The show was doing so well on HBO Max, that was critical. Going from Cinemax on January 1, it’s just made such a huge difference because all of a sudden we have so many more eyeballs, that momentum has been building.”

Warrior is based on an original concept and treatment by Hong Kong martial arts icon Bruce Lee, revived by his daughter Shannon Lee for Cinemax in 2019. Set in 1870s San Francisco during the Tong Wars – a series of violent disputes between warring factions in America’s Chinatowns – the show deals with the experience of Chinese immigrants and the racism they face. And it has arguably been a case of “right place, right time” with its central themes hitting home amid a sharp rise in anti-Asian hate during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in the US.

“With the timeliness of what’s going on historically with Covid and the scapegoating of Asians in certain countries, I think that’s really resonated with a lot of people,” said Tobin, whose character helps run the Hop Wei, one of the show’s warring Tongs.

“We’re taking stuff out from real history. Our show is a Tarantino-esque version of history, very hyper real. I don’t think we knew it was gonna strike a chord. But it’s crazy how similar things are. You remember in season one, episode five, we’re sitting in the carriage, we have this woman who says ‘these Chinese are vermin, they spread diseases’. It’s that same rhetoric that’s going on today.

“It touched a nerve for a lot of people, and I think Asian-Americans across the board feel they’re being scapegoated, attacked and all of a sudden a part of their history that has never been told is being directly addressed here in our show, in a really entertaining, stylish, and engrossing way.”

A new report by California State University, San Bernardino has found a 164 per cent increase of reports of anti-Asian hate crimes across 16 of the US’ largest cities in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020.

“In a way I wish it didn’t happen. I would rather there not be this kind of violence against Asians than our show coming back,” Tobin said. “But what it does mean is I as an artist and actor can channel some of my own feelings about what’s going on in the world through my work, because sometimes I get online and see what people are saying and writing, I have thoughts and feelings about this but sometimes feel I’m not eloquent enough or articulate enough to address it.”

Tobin also stars in this summer’s blockbuster Fast & Furious 9, reprising his fan-favourite role of Earl from the franchise’s third film, Tokyo Drift. The 2006 hit was directed by Lin, who made sure to bring Tobin back into the fold after their success together on Warrior.

The 36-year-old spoke to SCMP MMA during a three-week quarantine in a hotel in Hong Kong’s Central district, after returning from filming a new Netflix series – Fistful of Vengeance – in Bangkok.

It is Warrior that has always been closest to Tobin’s heart, however, though the outlook of a renewal wasn’t always positive – far from it, in fact.

“I was devastated when it looked like Warrior wasn’t going to come back,” Tobin said. “When we got lost in that shuffle between Cinemax and HBO Max, and ATT taking over Time Warner, I was gutted, because I really felt like we had done the best we could do with what we had and we were righting a wrong. To have completed such an amazing season one and two, to get the rug pulled out from under you, it was just so unfair. I know that’s the world we live in. That’s life. I couldn’t help but feel really hurt by it.

“But I always held out some sort of hope it would come back. It never felt over. I think that’s the consensus between the cast, we felt that. It really holds a special place in my heart and I felt I had not yet finished the job. I felt I had more to do and more to show. And a responsibility, particularly now, with what’s going on and getting all the messages from so many around the world that feel hurt and attacked because of their ethnicity. I feel a responsibility to them.

“Not only did I want to be an actor, I wanted to be part of something important. I’m working on a show that is more important than ever. I’m in a pivotal role in a character that really resonates with so many Asian-Americans.

“I get so many messages off people referring to episode five, in season one, when Young Jun says, ‘I’m a Chinaman that’s never been to China. I was born in San Francisco but I sure ain’t an American’. So many people have gravitated to that line. In many ways there’s a responsibility, not to Bruce – it’s to people that feel like this, and fortunately I don’t need to act that, that’s in me.”

Tobin cautioned however against Warrior going too far in the direction of addressing current day politics, though he has faith the writers and creators would not go down such a road.

“I hope we don’t become a show that just is so fixated on what’s going on in the real world that we lose track of just awesome storytelling and making sure we show every facet of every character,” he said. “I know that in this weird sort of reverse racism way I even have some people say, ‘Ah, you know the show works way better with just the Asian characters and not the white characters’. I’m like no, no it doesn’t. And don’t say that, that’s not the world I want to live in.

“We’re in it together. Americans are Irish, they’re black, they’re Latinos, they’re Asian, they’re everything. I hope that season three will go down a path that’s true to the story, and brings light to politics of what back then is reflective of what’s going on right now, but that we always stick to being true to the characters and what they want and need, and lead from that point of view as opposed to, ‘Oh we have a political message to make’.”