Legendary Pictures’ live-action Street Fighter movie has tapped a relative industry newcomer, Callina Liang, to portray the fighting game icon Chun-Li.
As reported by Deadline, the 25-year-old actress has signed on to star as the film’s female lead. Liang made her television debut in 2022, playing Mei in the first series of ITVX’s teen drama Tell Me Everything, then going on to star in two 2024 films: J.C. Lee’s Thai directorial debut Bad Genius and Steven Soderbergh’s supernatural thriller Presence.
Liang joins the film’s recently-reported stars Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Andrew Koji (Bullet Train), Roman Reigns (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) and Noah Centineo (Warfare), with Bad Trip‘s Kitao Sakurai as its director.
Even though the film’s plot remains under wraps, it will most likely follow the same premise as its 1987 Capcom fighting game source material, which centres around a global fighting tournament organised by M. Bison, the leader of the evil organisation Shadaloo. Chun-Li, one of the most recognisable icons in the gaming space, is an Interpol officer and skilled martial artist who made her debut in 1991’s Street Fighter II, and is famous for her muscular legs and kick-based movesets, appearing in nearly all subsequent instalments of the series, leading up to 2023’s Street Fighter 6.
Capcom and Legendary embarked on the latest attempt to bring the iconic Street Fighter series to life in April 2023, tapping into Talk to Me’s Danny and Michael Philippou as its director duo at the time. However, these plans would fall apart a year later, with the brothers exiting the project due to scheduling conflicts. Legendary has since found a new director in Kitao Sakurai, known for The Eric Andre Show, Bad Trip and Twisted Metal.
The Street Fighter film was originally slated to debut on 20 March 2026, but has since been pulled from Sony’s 2026 release calendar, with no news on its updated release window.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Yonk
