Entertainment · Books & Arts · 2 hrs ago
The Pirate Queen Expands With Graphic Novel, Game and International Tour
Lucy Liu and Eloise Singer are expanding The Pirate Queen with a graphic novel, a game in development and an international tour planned for next year.
The project retells the story of Cheng Shih, a powerful Chinese pirate who led in the South China Sea in the early 18th century.
Its latest immersive experience, No Safe Waters, uses projections, sound and movement to place audiences inside storms and fleets.
It appeared in the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Competition this year, following a 2024 virtual-reality version that earned an Emmy nomination.
The team is preparing an international tour for next year, while the new game is still being developed.
Singer was selected for BAFTA’s 2026 Breakthrough cohort in the games category for No Safe Waters.
Liu and Singer are building the project across formats to give Cheng Shih’s story greater scale and bring a complex historical woman to wider audiences.
Lucy Liu and Eloise Singer are preparing an international tour next year for The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters.
The pair have co-written a graphic novel and are developing a new game based on the project.
The immersive experience retells the story of Cheng Shih, a powerful female pirate in the South China Sea in the early 18th century.
Singer, the project’s writer and director, joined the 2026 BAFTA Breakthrough U.K. cohort.
- Who
- Lucy Liu and Eloise Singer are expanding The Pirate Queen. Singer is the project’s writer and director.
- What
- They are preparing an international tour, have co-written a graphic novel and are developing a new game.
- When
- The tour is planned for next year. Singer joined the BAFTA cohort on Nov. 4, 2026.
- Where
- The experience is about Cheng Shih, a pirate leader in the South China Sea. The tour’s locations are not stated.
- Why
- Liu and Singer want to tell Cheng Shih’s story with nuance and scale and expand the project across formats.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The original VR version of The Pirate Queen was released and earned an Emmy nomination.
No Safe Waters played in the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Competition.
BAFTA named Singer to its 2026 Breakthrough U.K. cohort.
Liu and Singer are preparing to take No Safe Waters on an international tour.
- Subject
- Cheng Shih, a powerful female pirate in the South China Sea in the early 18th century
- Tour
- International tour planned for next year
- New formats
- Graphic novel co-written by Liu and Singer; a new game is in development
- Original VR version
- Released in 2024; earned an Emmy nomination
- BAFTA
- Singer selected for the 2026 Breakthrough U.K. cohort in the games category
What people are saying
I love seeing how one story can take on a whole new life across different formats, each offering audiences a completely different way to experience it.
I feel really lucky to be making it with Lucy.
We’re building ‘The Pirate Queen’ as a larger storyworld together, so it was never just about lending my voice to one experience
She was politically astute, ruthless when necessary, deeply strategic, and completely self-determined.