New TV show in the works for Hollywood movie star from Mississauga

Having just hosted the People’s Choice Awards this past Sunday night, Mississauga native Simu Liu is now quickly looking to his next major gig — his own TV show.

In addition to hosting the popular awards show, the 34-year-old Hollywood movie star also shared in a couple of big-time awards as 2023 summer blockbuster Barbie won “Movie of the Year” and “Comedy Movie of the Year” honours.

Liu played one of the Kens in the film, which also starred Margot Robbie and Canadian Ryan Gosling, who won “Female Movie Star of the Year” and “Male Movie Star of the Year” awards, respectively.

Liu was also up for an individual award on Sunday in the “Movie Performance of the Year” category, but lost out to fellow Barbie star America Ferrera.

So, now it’s on to another big project in front of the camera for the Mississauga native, who shot to stardom with Marvel’s 2021 mega-hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and followed that up with last year’s performance in Barbie.

Liu, who earned a People’s Choice Award two years ago for his role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is now set to star in a yet-to-be-named espionage techno-thriller on Peacock TV in the U.S. He’ll also serve as an executive producer for the series.

Liu said via social media he’s looking forward to the show and working with executive producer James Wan (Saw and Insidious horror franchises, also Aquaman).

“James and I are absolutely thrilled to team up on our series at Peacock,” Liu wrote on a post to X (formerly Twitter).

He continued, joking: “It’ll be an amazing experience for me and slightly less amazing for James, who on set will have to come to terms with the fact that my biceps are nowhere near the size of Aquaman’s.”

An official description of the new series reads, in part: “Five minutes in the future, a first-generation-American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Liu) realizes his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears…(and) he must flush out who’s responsible.”

The role also marks a return to TV for Liu, who earlier starred in CBC’s “Kim’s Convenience.”