While we wait to hear when we’ll be seeing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (watch it HERE) star Simu Liu reprise the role of the titular superhero introduced in that film, Liu has signed on to join the cast of a sci-fi thriller we’ve been following for a while here on JoBlo and Arrow in the Head. The movie is called Hello Stranger, and Liu will be appearing alongside previously announced cast members Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Robbie Amell (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City), and Alicia Sanz (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series).
Liu was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, so the Toronto shoot of Hello Stranger takes him back home. Deadline broke the news of his casting, but they didn’t have any character details to share.
April Mullen (Wander) is directing the film from a screenplay by Ryan Christopher Churchill. This is the first produced feature for Churchill, who previously wrote, directed, and starred in the 2009 short film Love Your Enemy.
The story of Hello Stranger centers on Brewster’s character Faye, who
attempts to replace her newly deceased husband, Evan with an android simulant (SIM). Although SIM Evan appears like human Evan in everyway, Faye does not feel the same love for SIM Evan as it does for her. SIM Evan tries to win Faye back, while at the same time, on-the-run from a government agent (Worthington) chasing down SIMS who have become “conscious,” and could potentially be a threat to humankind.
We had heard that Luke Grimes (Yellowstone) was in the cast and would be playing the Evan character, but it looks like he had to drop out of the project at some point on its way to production.
Wander‘s Tim Doiron and James van der Woerd are producing Hello Stranger in association with their production company Wango Films, while Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico serves as executive producer.
This movie sounds interesting to me and Mullen has assembled a strong cast, so I look forward to seeing how it turns out.