Simu Liu Says New Spy Thriller 'The Copenhagen Test' Is Nothing Like James Bond—and That's a Good Thing
Most of the world knows Simu Liu as Marvel hero Shang-Chi. Yes, he's returning to the Marvel fold in Avengers: Doomsday next year, but right now he's starring in the last great show of 2025, the mind-bending thriller The Copenhagen Test. It's unlike other spy flicks. In it, Liu plays a spy named Alexander Hale, who isn't just compromised within his own agency, his brain gets hacked.
The result is a complex, can't-miss series that isn't exactly casual viewing. Everything he does can be observed when there's a nearby Wi-Fi signal, so the series becomes an unending hall of mirrors, with twists and turns worthy of John le Carré.
"It's not for passive watching," Liu says. "It's definitely a lean-forward show." Recently, ahead of the launch of The Copenhagen Test on Peacock, Men's Journal caught up with Liu to get his take on being a new kind of spy, how the fights in his cyberpunk show differ from Marvel, and why this show remains grounded and sexy. No major spoilers ahead.
Men's Journal: Everyone says their show has a lot of layers. But this one really does. What makes it different?
Anytime you have a spy show, I think you're going to get a lot of intrigue, a lot of double crosses, and twists and turns. Inherent in the genre is the promise of delivering all of those things. From the get-go in the writer's room, we set out to construct this Russian doll-esque kind of story, where one layer gets peeled and you see a little bit more detail, then a little bit more, then all of a sudden all your assumptions get rocked.
A lot of it comes down to small things. Even looks are important in this show, little pieces of eye contact. Because Alexander is hacked, and he knows everything he sees and hears is broadcast, he can manipulate that, too. So, what he chooses to look at and how long he chooses to hold eye contact; all of those are important details.
Your spy is surprisingly honest in a world of double-crossers. Was that hard to play?
The biggest acting challenge with that, I think, is the subtlety. I come from a world of comedy and a world of heavy action and stunts. Now, there's not a lot of commonality between comedy and action, but I think one of them is that neither are subtle.
This was a new one for me in that Alexander operates in this kind of razor thin realm of subtlety, where he's constantly holding back. Pulling that off was the biggest challenge, but also the most fun. I think you can only play in your comfort zone for so long. You have to continually venture out. And this character was very much that for me.
There's so much genre mixing in this show. I feel like it's John le Carré meets William Gibson. What artistic and literary influences were you channeling?
It's great you mentioned John le Carré, because that was a big part of what we talked about in our early discussions in the writers' room with [creator] Thomas Brandon. And at the same time, there's a cyberpunk element, which is a genre that has such a unique feeling, right? It's almost like a combination of technology and this timeless, classic, old-fashioned Lovecraftian feeling. But yes, we're certainly channeling [le Carré's] Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
At times, the show feels less about espionage and more like a commentary on being too online. Was that intentional?
Yes, I think we're maybe casting some commentary on our over-reliance on technology. And that's because I think a spy show is disingenuous if it's a guy and he's got a quartermaster, and all these gadgets. I'm not actively sh*tting on James Bond, but I would say in this day and age, it's tough if you have a spy show and it's all about him having all the gadgets and the highest tech.
The more actual spies you talk to, the more you realize it's an extremely analog job, and it's also one of the world's oldest professions. It's built on centuries and centuries of very, very primitive analog methods. And none of that has to do with hacking. Hale's strengths as a spy are in opposition to the brain hack. I think if we're able to instill a healthy mistrust of technology, I would be very, very happy.
Peacock
The action in this show is very cool. What's the difference between the fights here and a Marvel fight scene?
In TV, everything's a little bit faster, just because we have so many more hours of footage to get through. The scope of that changes. Obviously on a Marvel movie, you can spend three months of your life doing one bus sequence and really perfecting it. For us, it was a much shorter amount of time to get through eight episodes' worth of action. And, if you know me, I hate using a [stunt] double, so I try to avoid it. I try to have it be me in every possible scene.
But the approach to the character's action was completely different. We don't want Alexander Hale to bust out Kung Fu. This is the kind of hand-to-hand combat that's informed by his training as a Green Beret and in the special forces. That's just a very different aesthetic. It's brutal, not very flashy.
The Copenhagen Test is a spy show and a tech thriller—but is it also a low-key date-night show?
Definitely! It's something you can enjoy together with your partner. I think the romantic through-line between Alexander and Michelle [Melissa Barrera] is one of the most important parts of our show. What makes it so sexy and compelling is that you find out in the pilot episode that there's more to Michelle than meets the eye. A lot of their romance is predicated on the idea of putting on a show, of pretending. But then there are moments where you're like, oh, oh, this is real now.
That's the fun part. I was commenting in the writers' room that it feels like Love Island in a way. Are they saying the right things for the camera, but would this relationship work in the real world? That's what got me hooked.