After years of sitting in limbo like a case nobody wants to reopen, the Cold War franchise is finally moving again and instead of pushing forward, it’s digging straight into its own past.

Cold War 1994 is one of two confirmed prequels, alongside Cold War 1995, backed by Edko Films. Both were shot back-to-back, with Longman Leung returning to direct, this time without his original partner in crime Sunny Luk.

This isn’t a side story or a soft reboot. It’s a full rewind to the mid-1990s, planting itself firmly in pre-handover Hong Kong, where the tension isn’t just in the streets, it’s baked into the system.

At the centre of it all is a high-ranking police figure forced to juggle pressure from every direction: triads, political elites, and the British colonial government, all while trying to keep a high-profile kidnapping case from blowing up in the public eye. In this world, control isn’t about strength, it’s about who cracks first when the walls start closing in.

And yeah, the cast is ridiculous in the best possible way. We’re talking heavy hitters like Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Louis Koo, and Daniel Wu, backed up by a wider ensemble that includes Terrance Lau, Tse Kwan-ho, Louise Wong, Fish Liew, Wu Kang-ren, plus international names like Aidan Gillen and Hugh Bonneville.

It’s a stacked lineup for a story that’s less about explosions (though there are bound to be plenty of those) and more about quiet, calculated damage, the kind where careers end, alliances rot, and nobody walks away clean.

Cold War 1994 is currently scheduled to open in Hong Kong on May 1, 2026, kicking off a two-part dive into the origins of the franchise’s power struggles.