Marvel and Barbie Star Simu Liu to Host People's Choice Awards

Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu is set to host the 2024 People's Choice Awards. On February 18, The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica will play host to the two-hour event. Fans can stream the People's Choice Awards live on NBC, Peacock and E!. As a former winner for that MCU feature, the host is excited to be flexing those muscles again. He's coming off a delightful stint as the Master of Ceremonies at Character Media's Unforgettable Gala late last year. Barbie is poised to be a big winner during the show. Liu is up for his performance in the film. The movie is also a contender for "Movie of the Year" and "Comedy Movie of the Year."

"We're thrilled to have Simu Liu host the 2024 'People's Choice Awards,'" Jen Neal, NBCUniversal executive vice president of live events and specials told Variety. "As a fan-favorite tour de force in Hollywood, Simu's limitless charm and connection to fans perfectly embody the spirit of this awards show."  

"I'm so grateful to have been asked to step up to the hosting plate for the 2024 'People's Choice Awards,'" Liu wrote during the announcement. "It's exciting to celebrate this incredible year in pop culture, and to do so with the incredible fans that make what we do possible."

Simu Liu Representing For Barbie  

If there's any doubt of who Liu will be rooting for when the ceremony gets underway, it's his Barbie co-stars. During ComicBook.com's big interview with the Ken actor, he had to talk about his main movie rival, Ryan Gosling. Like most of the people on that set, the Marvel star had to give it up for the supporting actor and his wild performance. He also revealed that they had a hard time being mean to each other.

"It was the best," Liu told ComicBook.com's Jamie Jirak of the feud with Gosling. "The irony was not lost on me that we're both Canadian, and there's no reason for two Canadians to ever be fighting like that, but this is a movie, and we are playing characters that are often at odds with each other, so we had to bury that preconceived Canadian niceness as it were, and really focus on hating each other. Which was hard! He's a very likable human -- but as Ken, maybe not so much, and that made it a little bit better. I think the Kens are in such an interesting place in Barbieland at the beginning of the movie. There's just so little that they have to themselves." 

"They're not a particularly empowered group of dolls. They don't have jobs -- their only job is the beach, which they do all the time every single day, and that's it. And then every so often if a Barbie smiles at them or gives them the time of day, that's great, but it also gets the Kens very competitive," he added. "Ryan's Ken, very quickly in the beginning of the movie, makes a fool out of himself trying to impress Barbie, and that's just too bad, because I think my Ken would never do that. My Ken would always impress the Barbies with his Kenergy and hsi dance moves -- which you get to see later in the movie, and drives Ryan's Ken green with jealousy." 

When Will We See Shang-Chi 2?

As great as this year has been for Simu Liu, Marvel fans are still wondering when they'll see him return as Shang-Chi. The sequel to his MCU debut remains in development, and other than that, there haven't been many updates. Collider managed to grab some time with the Barbie star to ask when he'll put the rings back on. Liu is hoping that Shang-Chi 2 wail expand some of the background in that corner of the Marvel world. He's also trying to bring back as many familiar faces as possible. 

"Going into a sequel feels exciting. It doesn't necessarily feel like there's a pressure to perform or a pressure to exceed," Liu said in mid-2023 "It feels like we've established a world and there's just something really nostalgic and exciting about returning to that world that we've spent so much time ideating on and thinking about. And then, we're getting to revisit some things, but also show the viewer new things. We'll deliver all of the amazing action that we were celebrated for on the first movie, but then also hopefully explore new sides of Shaun's character and the characters around him. That is, of course, if we can still afford Michelle Yeoh. She's on top of the world and just the queen of everything."

Will you be watching the show? Let us know down in the comments!