Simu Liu reveals that he’s working on bringing a Sleeping Dogs adaptation to the big screen

It’s been around three years since Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released, and so far, there haven’t been ample updates on a sequel or formal announcements of the character returning for Avengers: Doomsday. However, it’s natural to assume he will be part of the ensemble as one of the new generation of superheroes in the MCU. Meanwhile, Simu Liu has promised that a sequel is coming when a user on Threads posted last year, “I feel like Marvel has abandoned the Shang-Chi fan base. There has been no effort by the studio to get the sequel filming or even include the character in other Marvel films. Frustrating as hell.” Shang-Chi star Liu would respond, “I proooomiss it’s happening.”

Now, it looks like Simu Liu is promising another long-awaited project as he reveals he’s picking up the reins from Donnie Yen in adapting the video game Sleeping Dogs into a film. According to MovieWeb, a fan posted to Liu on X about how he wanted a follow-up of the game, then Liu announced his tidbit of news. The fan messaged, “I absolutely want Sleeping Dogs 2. If a Sleeping Dogs movie is happening, hopefully that will generate enough interest to warrant a sequel. @SimuLiu Are you Wei? If so, Please work your magic.” And the Kim’s Convenience star would respond,

Working with the rights holders to bring Sleeping Dogs to the big screen!”

Sleeping Dogs is an action game with a similar open-world format of Grand Theft Auto from Square Enix about an undercover cop who is tasked to take down the most notorious gang on the streets: the Triads. The game is set in Hong Kong and focuses on martial arts fighting, car chases, parkour stunts and gunplay. Previously, Fast & Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz was working on bringing the movie to life with action star Donnie Yen starring in the lead role. Yen made a movie with some similarities from his native China with the film Special ID, where Yen’s look even resembled the video game character’s. 

Yen had been involved on adapting the project for some time, but recently announced that the adaptation attempt had fallen through for him. Yen would explain with a heavy heart, “I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights. I waited for years. Years. And I really want to do it. I have all these visions in my head, and unfortunately… I don’t know, you know how Hollywood goes, right? I spent many, many years on it. It was an unfortunate thing. Well, on to better things.”