Simu Liu knows Hollywood will never cast him as James Bond, and he’s channeling that reality into his sharp new spy thriller The Copenhagen Test.
Since Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings skyrocketed his profile four years ago, Liu has dazzled in Barbie‘s viral dance with Ryan Gosling, battled Jennifer Lopez in Atlas, and plunged depths with Woody Harrelson in Last Breath.
Yet lead roles remain elusive, a gap he attributes bluntly to his Asian heritage in an industry that views him as inherently “risky.”
His upcoming Peacock series (Dec. 27 premiere) finally puts him top billing as Alexander Hale, a hacked government analyst in a Bourne-meets-Bond dystopian chase.
Read more: “F**king Appalling”: Simu Liu on Hollywood’s Backslide in Asian Representation
Liu loves the genre—”I love Bond. I am such a sucker for the genre in general”—but knows it’s off-limits. “No, we’re a couple rungs down the ladder,” he told The Hollywood Reporter podcast I’m Having an Episode.
“Knowing that I would never get an opportunity to play a role like Bond, something like the Alexander Hale character is such a blessing because his cultural identity is really baked into his character.”
In the show, Hale’s first-generation immigrant roots spark distrust from bosses, layering spy tropes with real-world bias that James Bond or Ethan Hunt never face.
Post-Shang-Chi‘s $432 million pandemic haul, Liu expected leads to flood in. Instead: “Tiny, tiny budget [projects], playing third or fourth lead. Maybe a villain. But never the main character, never the proxy for the audience.” He contrasts this with white peers: “Once they get their moment, it becomes infinitely easier for them to get their next… That has not been the case for me.”
Liu calls out Hollywood’s “perception of what is risky,” where flops by certain leads aren’t blamed on race, yet Asian stars like him or Manny Jacinto are sidelined despite fan demand.
“This idea… is rooted in inherent bias. There’s elements of prejudice,” he said, tying it to recent social media rants on cratering Asian roles. As executive producer on The Copenhagen Test, he shaped Hale’s arc from the writers’ room—his first deep dive into production.
“It’s a marathon and… success is defined by longevity more than just the bigness of a single moment. And then with the caveat that it’s gonna be a lot harder for you than if you were white.”
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Liu eyes directors he idolizes but accepts many won’t hire him. Solution? Multiple hats, like Dev Patel. “You can’t just sit around and wait for a director to choose you who’s never gonna choose you. You gotta choose yourself.” With The Copenhagen Test, he reclaims the spy throne—no tux required.
