A new TV show led by MCU actor Simu Liu was canceled, putting the actor back on the bench while fans wait for his long-promised Marvel sequel. Liu, the face of Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has been away from live-action Marvel work for the past five years, with his next big screen return finally locked in for Avengers: Doomsday on December 18. His outside projects have helped fill the gap, but one of the biggest of those just hit a wall.
Peacock canceled The Copenhagen Test after a single season. The espionage thriller, which starred Liu alongside Melissa Barrera, dropped all eight episodes on December 27, 2025, and earned a 71 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. The show cracked Nielsen's streaming originals top 10 for its launch week with 373 million minutes viewed, then fell off the chart entirely and never came back. Liu played first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale, a spy who discovers his brain has been hacked.
With Copenhagen Test off the table, attention swings back to what Liu has been waiting on for years. Shang-Chi 2 was reported to be in development shortly after the first movie was released in September 2021, with director Destin Daniel Cretton attached to write and direct. Five years later, there is no release date, no production start has been announced, and Cretton's focus is elsewhere.
Cretton was originally lined up to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before stepping away from the project in late 2023. He then moved over to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which arrives in theaters on July 31. This commitment effectively parked the Shang-Chi sequel until Cretton wraps post-production on Brand New Day. However, insider Charles Murphy reported that Cretton had already done a lot of work on the sequel before pivoting to Brand New Day. This suggests the foundation is there even if filming is not close.
Liu kept fans updated whenever asked about the sequel, and his tone stayed positive, noting that Spider-Man 4 hasn’t impacted the project. Marvel Studios is yet to slot Shang-Chi 2 into any of its dated release windows, meaning a Phase 7 placement in 2028 or later remains the most realistic option.
What Lies Ahead for Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
The gap between Liu's live-action Marvel outings is staggering compared to the rest of the franchise. His only live-action appearance as Shang-Chi remains the 2021 origin movie. Marvel Animation filled in some of the absence with voice work in What If…? Season 3 and the four-episode Marvel Zombies, which premiered on Disney+ last year. In Marvel Zombies, Liu voices a variant of Shang-Chi bitten by a zombie and uses the Ten Rings to hold back the infection, giving the character a meaty role in the apocalyptic story.
Those animated appearances are welcome, but they are not the main timeline or a sequel featuring the lovely mystical dimension, Ta Lo.
The good news is that fans will see Shang-Chi back in action in Avengers: Doomsday. During an interview with ComicBook, Liu openly teased that his Shang-Chi will feel older and more lived-in than the version fans last saw. A breakout showing in the team-up film could move Shang-Chi 2 up Marvel's priority list. The studio has previously used Avengers crossovers to elevate the value of some of its biggest characters.
A typical example is Thor and Captain America. After their first solo outings, they featured in 2012's The Avengers, and the success of that crossover rubbed off on their sequel films. Shang-Chi could benefit from this as well, so the long wait for a sequel might not be a bad thing after all.
The character will also return for Secret Wars the following year, which makes this even better. Shang-Chi needs to put on a good show in these two movies, and Simu Liu's dream sequel could be fast-tracked at the snap of a finger.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
