Simu Liu may still be entrenched within the MCU, and at one point he was even going to be the focus of an Avengers movie, but that doesn’t stop him from doing extra-curricular projects. He was a Ken in Barbie, tried out a Netflix original with Jennifer Lopez, and even played himself in a recurring role on Max’s The Other Two. But with Shang-Chi 2 still in limbo, Liu is attempting something far bigger than a guest star role; he’s going to be a lead in a sci-fi thriller series with an iconic creator attached. Here’s everything we know about the as-yet-untitled series.
This sci-fi thriller comes from executive producer James Wan, the director behind Saw, Aquaman, and The Conjuring. The series, set to premiere on Peacock, follows Liu as Alexander Hale, an intelligence analyst who discovers his brain has been hacked, meaning the hackers have access to everything he sees and hears.
“Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies,” the synopsis reads. According to TVLine, Scream VI star Melissa Barrera has joined the cast as a character named Michelle, alongside Brain D’Arcy James, Mark O’Brien, Sinclair Daniel, and Kathleen Chalfant in unspecified roles.
Wan is only serving as executive producer, while Thomas Brandon, writer for the CW’s fantasy-drama Legacies, is credited as creator. But considering this series’ brain-hacking twist, it’s easy to see how Wan’s horror experience could shine through. And with Barrera’s ever-growing scream queen pedigree now involved, this could be just as terrifying as any of Wan’s earlier projects. Who wants to live with having their brain hijacked?
This series is still a long way off, but the people involved make it worth keeping on your radar. Simu Liu (probably) won’t be returning to the MCU until Avengers: Doomsday in 2026, but seeing him in a sci-fi adventure series like this will help tide his fans over until we get a long-awaited update on Shang-Chi 2.
