Cold War 1994 () is a 2026 Hong Kong crime thriller film written and directed by Longman Leung. A prequel to Cold War (2012) and Cold War 2 (2016), the film stars an ensemble cast with Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, and Tony Leung Ka-fai reprising their roles, and new additions Daniel Wu, Terrance Lau, Wu Kang-ren, Tse Kwan-ho, Louis Koo, Louise Wong, Fish Liew, Aidan Gillen, and Hugh Bonneville. The story is split between 2017 and 1994, the latter revolving around a power struggle among local elites, triads, and the British government prior to the Handover of Hong Kong.
A third installment in the Cold War franchise entered development before the release of Cold War 2 in 2015, with production originally slated to begin in 2019. The project was postponed for various reasons, and producer Bill Kong decided to change the setting from the modern day to before the Handover after producing Anita (2021). Envisioned as a two-part prequel, Cold War 1994 and Cold War 1995, pre-production began in March 2024, with principal photography starting in June as a back-to-back production that spanned seven months in Hong Kong and London.
The film had its world premiere at the Shenzhen Grand Theater on 26 April 2026, and was theatrically released in Hong Kong on 1 May. It will be followed by the direct sequel Cold War 1995, which is slated to be released in 2027.
Plot In 2017, Yip is elected the new Chief Executive. Hoping to appoint M.B. as Secretary for Security, who has become controversial due to the Cold War operation, he commissions senior counsel Kan to conduct a background investigation into him, during which M.B. is attacked and goes missing, prompting Commissioner of Police Lau to approach Kan for access to a classified file concerning a 1994 operation involving M.B.
In 1994, Johnny Boy, a subordinate of M.B., then head of the OCTB, embezzles confiscated heroin to repay his debts. After M.B. agrees to cover for him, their team plan to raid a Lo Yuen triad hideout after receiving intelligence about a drug deal that night. Unbeknownst to them, the hideout's owner Tiger has also accepted a job to kidnap K.F., the brother-in-law of Sir William Poon, patriarch of one of Hong Kong's most influential families. Johnny is killed during a shootout, while Tiger escapes with K.F. Hui, the then-police commissioner who climbed the ranks with the backing of Hong Kong's old money aristocrats, comes under pressure from William to rescue K.F, and scapegoats M.B. for the failed operation. Before Special Branch officers can arrest him, however, Deputy Commissioner Choi secretly warns M.B. and helps him disappear.
After lying low for some time, M.B. seeks help from Lo Yuen's leader Jodie. During their negotiations, assassins attack and they narrowly escape. M.B. convinces Jodie that the assassins were sent by Tiger's mysterious employer. Since the faction was powerful enough to target the Poon family, M.B. reasons Tiger will also be silenced once the ransom is paid. Jodie reveals Tiger's location, a boat hideout, after M.B. promises to keep him alive. M.B. then informs Choi, who orders him to intercept the ransom delivery while he leads a hit team to rescue K.F. However, M.B. fails and is arrested. Back at headquarters, Choi accepts responsibility for the failed operation to protect M.B. Choi later apologizes to M.B., explaining that when his team boarded the boat they found only Tiger's corpse, with no sign of K.F. in the engine room. He warns M.B. that Special Branch will still pursue him and offers to send him to Thailand until things cool down. On the journey out, however, M.B. realizes Choi could not have known about the engine room unless he had already found K.F. himself. Realizing he has been betrayed, M.B. tries to escape Choi's escorts, only to be captured by Jodie's underlings instead. Although M.B. insists he was framed, Tiger's mother demands revenge for her son's death. Before she can execute him, Jodie shoots M.B. in the arm and drops him into the sea, secretly alerting M.B.'s father, S.T., to rescue him.
Choi, who took K.F. hostage, meets William to demand ransom money. William agrees and promises to promote Choi to Commissioner. However, he also orders Choi to eliminate K.F., having discovered that K.F. maintains ties with Britain and could invite British interference in the family business. William later confronts his son Simon, who confesses that he orchestrated K.F.'s kidnapping because he is secretly in love with Rosa, K.F.'s wife and William's adopted sister. Furious, William declares Simon will never inherit the family business. Jodie initially plans to assassinate Choi, but M.B. persuades her to stand down. Instead, he contacts three undercover officers he planted inside Lo Yuen, the only men he still trusts, for help. They track Choi's men transporting K.F. through Kai Tak Airport, but the pursuit ends in a crash that kills K.F. With K.F.'s body in his possession, M.B. confronts Choi, and the two agree to hand it over to the British as a gesture of loyalty. Britain sends F.M., a senior MI6 officer, to take charge of the incident. Choi agrees to continue protecting British interests after the Handover, while M.B. refuses. Choi is promoted to Commissioner, whereas M.B. is merely reinstated to his former rank. Meanwhile, William is killed in a car bombing orchestrated by Simon after meeting British officials at Downing Street.
In the mid-credits scene set in 2017, Yip interrupts Kan and Lau to reveal that Choi was assassinated earlier that day in London, and they suspect the records in M.B.'s classified file were deliberately altered.
Cast
Daniel Wu as Peter Choi, the Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations. The character was played by Chang Kuo-chu in Cold War 2 (2016). The film marks Wu's return to Hong Kong cinema after pursuing a career in Hollywood since the COVID-19 pandemic. Wu said that filming in Cantonese was the most challenging part of the production, and he spent two to three months preparing. Terrance Lau as M.B. Lee, the acting Chief Superintendent of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau. Lau was considered for the role by director Longman Leung while filming Leung's previous feature Anita (2021). He initially hesitated to take the role, but accepted it as a "challenge" after discussing it with his talent manager. He underwent two months of combat and firearms training and worked out to prepare for the role, gaining around 5 kg in the process. He also performed his own stunts in several action sequences, noting that the complexity of his actions in this film is less than in his previous feature Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024). Tony Leung Ka-fai as the older M.B. Lee, the newly appointed Secretary for Security. Leung reprises his role from Cold War (2012) and Cold War 2. Terrance Lau said he was not looking to fully replicate Leung's older version of the character, but rather to give his own interpretation of the role. Wu Kang-ren as Simon Poon, the "ambitious" son of William Poon who is "ruthlessly sidelined". Longman Leung flew to Taiwan and invited Wu to join the cast right after Wu won Best Leading Actor at the 2023 Golden Horse Awards, marking Wu's first performance entirely in Cantonese. To immerse himself in the character, Wu also spoke in Cantonese with the crew on set even when not filming. Tse Kwan-ho as Sir William Poon, the "formidable" Poon family patriarch. Tse based his character on Hong Kong's old money aristocrats, such as Robert Hotung. To portray Poon, who is set to be 20 years older than Tse's actual age, he had to undergo three hours of prosthetic makeup before each shoot to age him visually. He also worked with a language coach to refine the pronunciation of his English lines in preparation for scenes with Hugh Bonneville. Chow Yun-fat as Oswald Kan, a senior counsel. Chow reprises his role from Cold War 2. The antique box camera used by Kan in the film came from Chow's personal collection. Aaron Kwok as Sean Lau, the Commissioner of Police. Kwok reprises his role from Cold War and Cold War 2. Louis Koo as Adrian Yip, the Chief Executive-elect. HK01 described the character's design as modeled after former Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Chief Executive candidate John Tsang. Louise Wong as Jodie Yuen, leader of the Lo Yuen triad. Wong was cast during the filming of Longman Leung's previous feature Anita (2021), and she underwent two months of combat and firearms training for the role. Wong and Leung collaborated to create the Chinese name of her character, Yeuk-lan (), a pun of "like an orchid" and "if there is trouble" (). Fish Liew as Rosa Poon, the adopted and youngest of ten siblings in the Poon family. Liew took inspiration from the character Victoria Chung, played by her in A Guilty Conscience (2023), while portraying the role. Aidan Gillen as F.M., MI6 Head of Asia-Pacific. The film marks Gillen's Asian cinema debut, with Gillen describing his decision to join the production as "no brainer" after watching the previous Cold War films and finding them "hugely impressive". He described his character as "a government man, an intelligence operative [who] doesn't always play by the rules". Hugh Bonneville as Chris Hughes, the British Cabinet Minister. Bonneville described his character as "a Whitehall wonk".
Also appearing in the film are Karen Mok as Irene Poon, a member of the Poon family and the dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Hong Kong; Carlos Chan as K.F. Wong, Rosa's husband and William's brother-in-law, whose character arc is based on businessman Teddy Wang, who was kidnapped for ransom in 1990 and later went missing; Chen Yi-wen as Tim Ma, a real estate tycoon and patriarch of one of the Big Four families, whose character is modeled after Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing; Locker Lam as Roger Ma, Tim Ma's eldest son; Kent Cheng, Dominic Cheung, and Vincent Kok as the three other patriarchs of the Big Four families; Cecilia Yip as Aunt Fong, a respected figure in the triads and the mother of Tiger Fong; Samuel Pang as Tiger Fong, the former second-in-command of Lo Yuen who kidnapped K.F. Wong; Michael Ning as Stephen Pak, the strategist of Lo Yuen who is loyal to Jodie; Jeffrey Ngai as Tony, Pak's right-hand man; while Dominic Lam, , and Marx Cheung as S.K. Lai, C.K. Chan, and K.N. Chiu, the elders of Lo Yuen.
Michael Chow as Dickson Hui, the Commissioner of Police, modeled after the last Royal Hong Kong Police commissioner Eddie Hui; Peter Chan as Albert Kwong, the head of internal investigations, previously portrayed by Gordon Lam in Cold War; Kevin Chu as Roy Ho, a probationary inspector in M.B.'s team, previously portrayed by Tony Yang in Cold War 2; Mandy Tam and Mak Pui-tung as Bianca Yeung and Johnny Boy, M.B.'s subordinates; Dee Ho, Lokman Yeung, and Stanley Yau as Wu Tin-man, Eric Ma, and Neo Chan, undercover officers working for M.B. who are planted within Lo Yuen; as Dave Wong, Peter Choi's right-hand man; Tom Price as Walter Brown, a Special Branch officer; while and Stefan Wong as W.K. Tang and Y.W. Ma, the Senior Assistant Commissioners of Police.
In addition, cameo appearances include Yuen Biao as S.T. Lee, the first ethnic Chinese police superintendent and father of M.B. Lee, previously portrayed by Kenneth Tsang in Cold War 2; while Sammo Hung appears in a photograph as Jodie's father. Samantha Ko appears as news anchor May Ip; Mathias Woo appears as newspaper editor Chief Cho, while Adam Pak appears as Adrian Cheuk, an air traffic controller at Kai Tak Airport.
Production Development