It's been nearly a decade since we started to hear about Sleeping Dogs, the award-winning action-adventure game from the now-defunct United Front Games, getting a film adaptation. While for years, it seemed like the project, like the studio that made the original game, was dead in the water, Shang-Chi star Simu Liu has made it his personal mission to revive the film. Now, Liu has achieved a crucial step in that revival journey: by signing Timo Tjahjanto to be the film's director.
Liu and Tjahjanto both confirmed the news on X (formerly Twitter) with an exchange that began with a user asking Liu for an update on how the film is progressing. Liu pointed the user to Tjahjanto, who followed up with a gif from the game and the caption "We'll cross the oceans of time to make this."
Liu then responded with, "Ladies and gents, the director of Sleeping Dogs."
It's still unclear who will be penning the script, but it's good to see the film adaptation getting some momentum with Liu seemingly being the driving force behind any movement the film has. Liu is working on the film as a producer and will also ultimately star in it as Wei Shen, essentially taking over the roles that the legendary Donnie Yen had all those years ago when we first heard of the adaptation.
For his own part, Tjahjanto added, "I’m excited to be developing SLEEPING DOGS with Simu Liu. We both are hungry and passionate about the material & have plenty to prove. It's no secret that both TNCFU & The Shadow Strays took inspiration from Sleeping Dogs, heck, I even based a character in TSS straight outta SD down to his name. This will take time, but we’ll make the best version out of it, Cleaver, chopsticks n' all."
Of course, the film still has a long way to go before we can look forward to seeing it in theatres, but it's clear that Liu is not giving up on it any time soon. The more he puts the pieces of it together, the closer we are to seeing the film in theatres, and then hopefully, the closer we are to getting another Sleeping Dogs game.
After all, that's always been Liu's plan. "First a movie, then a sequel game for everyone...that's always been the dream," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) at the beginning of 2025.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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