Lucy Liu and Eloise Singer Expand 'The Pirate Queen' Into Graphic Novel and Global Tour

Lucy Liu and writer-director Eloise Singer are preparing to take their immersive experience 'The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters' on an international tour next year. The project, which centers on the historical figure Cheng Shih, will also expand into a co-written graphic novel and a new video game. Singer, who wrote and directed the piece, was selected for the 2026 BAFTA Breakthrough U.K. cohort on Nov. 4.

The franchise retells the story of Cheng Shih, a powerful female pirate who operated in the South China Sea at the start of the 18th century. 'No Safe Waters' competed in the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Competition this year. It follows the original 2024 virtual reality version of 'The Pirate Queen,' which received an Emmy nomination.

Liu narrates and produces the new installment alongside Singer. Unlike the first iteration, which required a headset, the new piece uses projection, sound, and movement to fill a shared room. Audiences stand among storms and fleets, with dragons moving beneath their feet. Liu does not appear on screen, relying on her voice to guide the atmosphere and movement of the experience.

Liu describes Cheng Shih as intelligent and strategically brilliant. The actor says the pirate won respect through negotiation and leadership in a world designed to exclude women entirely. 'She was politically astute, ruthless when necessary, deeply strategic, and completely self-determined,' Liu said. 'Stories like hers remind us that history has always contained powerful, complex women. They were never centered in mainstream narratives.'

Singer has worked on 'The Pirate Queen' for a decade, with the final three years spent collaborating with Liu. The pair view the project as a larger storyworld rather than a single experience. 'We’re building 'The Pirate Queen' as a larger storyworld together, so it was never just about lending my voice to one experience,' Liu said. 'As a producer, I wanted to help support the integrity of the story and the larger creative vision.'

BAFTA named Singer to its Breakthrough program, an initiative supported by Netflix for emerging screen talent, in the games category for 'No Safe Waters.' Singer said the selection was a 'pinch-me moment' and that she was proud to be recognized for an immersive project. 'We started with a story we really believed in and wanted to bring it to life in a completely different way, something audiences could truly step inside and experience,' she said.

Singer said this year marks the first time she has felt a scalable and sustainable future for immersive storytelling. She cited strong distribution interest in 'The Pirate Queen' as a sign of growing appetite for the format. 'It feels like there is a real appetite for immersive work now,' Singer said. Liu noted that the form extends cinematic language while asking audiences to participate differently, changing the relationship between story and viewer.