Legendary Pictures seems to have already cast their Chun-Li for their Street Fighter movie.
As reported by Deadline, Canadian actress Callina Liang has landed the role, based on their sources. Legendary Pictures did not officially comment on this report, so to be clear, this is still a rumor.
At 25, Liang perfectly fits the Street Fighter II ending description of Chun-Li as “a young single girl.” She was active in Tiktok as a teenager, but she’s already built an impressive resume in her early career in Hollywood as a young adult.
That career started in British teen drama TV show Tell Me Everything in 2022. In 2024, she was cast alongside Lucy Lieu in Steven Soderbergh’s modern haunted house movie, Presence. She also played the lead in the Hollywood remake of Thai heist/teen drama movie Bad Genius, where she got to work with Benedict Wong.
So Liang isn’t a household name, or particularly known for martial arts work. But there’s a clear upside to cast this young up-and-comer to the role. She’s already been a film lead, she’s already rubbed elbows with some big names, and she’s a fresh face for a younger audience.
Prior rumors about this movie claim that Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Jason Momoa, and Roman Reigns were also in talks to be in the Street Fighter movie, but it is not known what roles they were being cast for. It’s possible that they were being cast for the Street Fighter franchise’s biggest male characters, such as Ryu, Ken Masters, Luke Sullivan, William F. Guile, and Akuma.
We also reported on the rumor that Walton Goggins would play the lead villain, M. Bison. It’s possible that there was an extra layer of secrecy for casting Ryu, Ken, Luke, etc. simply because of how high profile these roles would be.
In any case, if Liang really was cast as Chun-Li that suggests that this movie throws it back to the setting of Street Fighter II, or potentially the Street Fighter Alpha games. Street Fighter 6 clearly establishes that Chun-Li, Ryu, and the other veteran characters are considerably older compared to their first appearances, so this movie is likely not a throwback to that.
Capcom once boldly sought to give Chun-Li her own starring role in the second Street Fighter movie, called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Unfortunately, in spite of Capcom’s plans to make a more serious film, it turned out to be even more poorly received than their kitschy original 1994 Street Fighter film.
Legendary Pictures will have to figure out how to strike that balance in delivering the action movie that audiences expect, and also retelling the game’s lore in a way that will also satisfy longtime fans. We do think this rumor is a good indication that they know what they’re doing.
