‘Sleeping Dogs’: Timo Tjahjanto To Direct Simu Liu In Action-Packed Hong Kong-Set Triad Crime Thriller

Over the weekend, it was revealed by director Timo Tjahjanto (“Nobody 2”) that he would be directing the live-action feature adaptation of the Hong Kong cop thriller Square Enix video game “Sleeping Dogs,” which will star “Shang-Chi” actor Simu Liu (“Avengers: Doomsday”) as made public back in October, after Donnie Yen (“John Wick 4”) stepped away from the central role of Wei Shen.

Tjahjanto, who most recently worked on the Jason Statham sequel “The Beekeeper 2,” shared his involvement via a social media post and another post from Liu expressing his own excitement of the filmmaker joining the action-packed film that sees a cop Wei Shen (Liu) going undercover to expose dangerous Triad gangs in Hong Kong for authorities, taking pages from the worlds of John Woo, Johnnie To, and the seminal “Infernal Affairs” trilogy.

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“I’m excited to be developing ‘Sleeping Dogs’ with Simu Liu. We both are hungry and passionate about the material and have plenty to prove,” Tjahjanto said in his announcement.

Also, screenwriter Tze Chun is behind the latest script for “Sleeping Dogs,” who previously worked on shows such as “Once Upon A Time,” “Gotham,” “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai,” and “I’m A Virgo.”

Liu has a new TV series on Peacock, titled “The Copenhagen Test.” The Canadian actor also had recently returned to the MCU for “Avengers: Doomsday” (may also be part of the “Avengers: Secret Wars” cast), and is still waiting on Destin Daniel Cretton to helm “Shang-Chi 2,” which had been in development before the director was pulled off “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” (retooled to become “Doomsday”) to do “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” instead for Marvel Studios.

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Next up will be finding a supporting cast for “Sleeping Dogs,” as there will be plenty of friend and foe roles to fill for the action crime flick.

ladies and gents, the director of sleeping dogs. https://t.co/lDyDf7UrmJ

— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) December 28, 2025

I’m excited to be developing SLEEPING DOGS with @SimuLiu , We both are hungry and passionate about the material & have plenty to prove.

Its no secret that both TNCFU & The Shadow Strays took inspiration from Sleeping Dogs, heck I even based a character in TSS straight outta… pic.twitter.com/NY9ryTmkHn

— Timo Tjahjanto (@Timobros) December 29, 2025