Daniel Wu received the Best from the East Award at the New York Asian Film Festival, marking a resurgence in his Hong Kong career via two major projects: "Cold War 1994" and the "Twilight of the Warriors" series. He told Variety he never deliberately left Hong Kong cinema, but a pandemic-thinned schedule and the pull of a high-quality production brought him back, and the return has been significant given the "Cold War" franchise's commercial track record and Wu's evident enthusiasm for reconnecting with the industry's people and pace.

"Cold War 1994" is a prequel to the "Cold War" series, directed by Longman Leung and produced by Bill Kong and Ivy Ho, set against the 1997 Hong Kong handover; its two predecessors, from 2012 and 2016, were each the highest-grossing Hong Kong film of their year. Wu plays Peter Choi opposite Terrance Lau's M.B. Lee, a character previously played as a straightforward villain, and describes the role as his most morally ambiguous yet, tracing a gradual descent into becoming an "evil mastermind." Wu, who was 22 during the actual 1997 handover, says the shoot let him revisit a period of political upheaval he lived through but hadn't fully understood, while returning to a Hong Kong set felt like a reunion, with familiar crews he praises as "efficient, fast, and no bullshit." He also touched on a new haircut prepared for his role in "Twilight of the Warriors."