Simu Liu recently confirmed that Sleeping Dogs finally has a director, and the name that has been attached to the project is one that instantly raised our expectations. Timo Tjahjanto isn’t a name that you’ll instantly recognise in Hollywood just yet, but among action movie fans, his reputation is already firmly established.
ladies and gents, the director of sleeping dogs. https://t.co/lDyDf7UrmJ— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) December 28, 2025
The long-awaited Sleeping Dogs adaptation is finally moving forward in pre-production, and it has been a long time coming. And if this is your first time hearing about this director, then let’s take a closer look at the filmmaker bringing Wei Shen’s brutal, undercover world to the big screen.
Who Is Timo Tjahjanto?
Image Credit: @NextBestPicture/YouTube
Born in 1980, Timo Tjahjanto is an Indonesian filmmaker known for bringing relentless action together with dark, often unsettling atmospheres. After studying visual arts in Australia, he entered the industry working as a storyboard artist and photographer before going into directing.
His early inspirations include Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and other classic horror pieces, and we can see the influence take shape in his sense of tension and pacing. Tjahjanto first gained attention as one-half of The Mo Brothers, alongside Kimo Stamboel. Together, they directed films like Macabre, Killers, and Headshot, and they took over modern Indonesian cinema.
I’m excited to be developing SLEEPING DOGS with @SimuLiu , We both are hungry and passionate about the material & have plenty to prove.Its no secret that both TNCFU & The Shadow Strays took inspiration from Sleeping Dogs, heck I even based a character in TSS straight outta… pic.twitter.com/NY9ryTmkHn— Timo Tjahjanto (@Timobros) December 29, 2025
Even in those early projects, we could see what would become his style. His grounded violence, raw choreography, and a portrayal of the harsh realities of combat were all there.
By the late 2010s, Tjahjanto stepped out on his own. His solo projects, including May the Devil Take You and Netflix’s The Night Comes for Us, earned critical praise and solidified him as one of the most aggressive action directors working today. The Netflix film in particular has become a calling card.
Why He’s a Perfect Fit for Sleeping Dogs
On December 28, Simu Liu and Timo Tjahjanto revealed in a series of social media posts that the latter would be directing Sleeping Dogs, with Liu producing and starring as undercover cop Wei Shen. And if you’re familiar with the game and with both of these men, you’ll know that this pairing makes sense immediately.
So few film projects make it from pitch phase to greenlight. Pitching execs who don’t understand the game has been tiring. Everyone’s overwhelming love of Sleeping Dogs here has really given us life!First a movie, then a sequel game for everyone… that’s always been the dream. pic.twitter.com/g84r9Lf0SI— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) January 31, 2025
The game’s identity was built on close-quarters combat, bone-crunching martial arts, and a grounded crime story set in Hong Kong’s underworld. Those elements line up almost perfectly with the filmmaking style that we’ve seen from Tjahjanto. The director has already shown an understanding of hand-to-hand combat with his work on Nobody 2 and other projects.
Tjahjanto has even acknowledged that some of his past work, including The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays, drew inspiration from Sleeping Dogs. That experience makes him a natural match for the project. We have nothing but good expectations from this.
The movie is still in pre-production, with no release date announced as of January 1, 2026. Still, it seems like the project is in the phase where it has all the momentum on its side.
What are you expecting from this dynamic duo of creators? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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