In response to the Covid pandemic, Warner Bros. gave all of their 2021 movies day-and-date theatrical and Max streaming releases – and one film that basically benefited from the streaming facet of that technique was the online game adaptation Mortal Kombat, launched in April of 2021. As reported by Business Insider, Mortal Kombat had the very best weekend of any of the Warner Bros. releases on Max, with a complete of three.8 million viewers throughout its first few days. Along with that, the movie, which value $55 million to make, earned $83.6 million on the international field workplace. So, inside months of its launch, Warner Bros. was already creating sequels and spinoffs. The primary follow-up shall be making its method into theatres someday in 2025 – and right here’s the whole lot we learn about Mortal Kombat 2.
DIRECTOR
Business director Simon McQuoid made his characteristic directorial debut with the 2021 Mortal Kombat, following within the footsteps of Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed a well-liked 1995 movie based mostly on the online game franchise, and John R. Leonetti, who was the cinematographer on the ’95 Mortal Kombat earlier than being promoted to director on the poorly-received 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. McQuoid landed the job as a result of producer Todd Garner was impressed by a Duracell business he directed, which was set within the Star Wars universe.
McQuoid truly turned down the job provide at first. As he defined to The Hollywood Reporter, he advised his agent, “The first movie out, I think it shouldn’t be a video game. I’ve done video game commercials, and I get it, but let’s try to get something other than that.” However then, he was received over by the script and agreed to make the film. And because the film turned out to be a hit, the producers and Warner Bros. determined to have McQuoid return to the helm for the sequel.
WRITER
Greg Russo and Dave Callaham acquired screenplay credit score on Mortal Kombat ’21, with Russo additionally credited for crafting the story with Oren Uziel, working from the concepts offered within the online game franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. That movie had the next synopsis: MMA fighter Cole Younger, accustomed to taking a beating for cash, is unaware of his heritage — or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has despatched his finest warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his household’s security, Cole goes looking for Sonya Blade on the path of Jax, a Particular Forces Main who bears the identical unusual dragon marking Cole was born with. Quickly, he finds himself on the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those that bear the mark. Right here, Cole trains with skilled warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to face with Earth’s biggest champions in opposition to the enemies of Outworld in a excessive stakes battle for the universe. However will Cole be pushed arduous sufficient to unlock his arcana — the immense energy from inside his soul — in time to avoid wasting not solely his household, however to cease Outworld as soon as and for all?
A synopsis hasn’t been revealed for Mortal Kombat 2 but, however we do know who wrote the script: in January of 2022, it was introduced that Jeremy Slater, who was the lead author on Marvel’s Moon Knight sequence and created the TV sequence based mostly The Exorcist, had been employed to put in writing the sequel. Quickly after the announcement, the author spoke with The Direct to present an replace on the script and tease that the filmmakers discovered from the errors of the primary film. Slater mentioned, “It’s really fun so far. We’re about halfway through the script. I’m working really closely with the director and the studios, and the game guys, and I think—I can’t say anything about the actual story, but I think they definitely learned some lessons the last time around in terms of, ‘Here’s the stuff fans responded to, and here’s what people liked out of the movie, and here’s the stuff that didn’t work out as well as we hoped.’” He added that they’re viewing the Mortal Kombat sequel as “the chance to take everything that worked in the first one and do it even better and give the audience even more, and make something that is just incredibly satisfying, and really exciting, and unpredictable.” He went into this job eager to make the Mortal Kombat sequel that nobody is anticipating, one that may sneak in and “blow everybody away.“
CAST
Lewis Tan performed Cole Younger in Mortal Kombat, a brand new character who had some mysterious ties to the mythology of the sequence. He reprises the function within the sequel – and earlier than manufacturing began, he advised Movie Updates, that he hoped Mortal Kombat 2 could be greater and bloodier than the primary film. “We got an amazing writer, Jeremy Slater, who wrote Moon Knight for Marvel, on board. His writing is really good and he’s really smart. I’m excited to see what he develops, because it’s a tricky one with Mortal Kombat. There are so many storylines. It’s very complex; there are so many characters. It’s a hard one to get done in a two-hour period or an hour and a half. Hopefully, they can make the sequel a little bit longer and we can explore more characters and more themes, and just make it even bloodier and even bigger than the first one. That’s our plan.”
Along with Tan, forged members coming back from the earlier Mortal Kombat film are Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao.
Now, the brand new additions. Followers have been anxiously ready to see the Johnny Cage character, and there have been lots of fan casting strategies: Ryan Reynolds, James Marsden, wrestler The Miz. That final one was such a well-liked little bit of fan-casting, The Miz even advised ComicBook.com that he had been hitting the health club to verify he could be ready to play the character if he received the decision. “I have been working on my splits. I’ve been working on my kicks. As soon as I saw that Mortal Kombat was out and there was no Johnny Cage yet and my name was literally trending worldwide No.1, ‘We want Miz as Johnny Cage’, I was like, ‘if they want that to happen, I need to basically make sure that I am prepared and ready if that opportunity presents itself, then I will be ready and focused.” However, the job didn’t go to The Miz. As an alternative, it was The Boys star Karl City who was forged to play Johnny Cage. And it seems like he had a blast engaged on the mission. He wrote on social media that Mortal Kombat 2 was “palms down essentially the most motion packed enjoyable I’ve ever had on a movie!“
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actress Adeline Rudolph was forged to play Princess Kitana, who’s 10,000 years outdated and the stepdaughter of the evil Shao Khan. Rudolph’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina co-star Tati Gabrielle was forged as Jade, the good friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana.
Bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Quick Saga) landed the function of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, with Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka) as Kahn’s spouse Queen Sindel, Damon Herriman (As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi, and Desmond Chiam (Pleasure Trip) as Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) till Edenia’s warriors misplaced within the Mortal Kombat match. It appears to be like like we’ll be seeing a flashback to Jerrod’s downfall on this film. Talking to ComingSoon, Ford, who additionally performed Goliath within the Prime Video sequence Home of David mentioned that Shao Khan was a dream function. “The previous couple of years I’ve had a large alternative to play varied characters of stature. It simply looks like one dream occurs and the subsequent one comes. The final three characters I’ve performed have been Flamma (in These About to Die), who’s a gladiator inside historical past, the best gladiator of all time. Then Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 2, after which to play Goliath simply topped it off. So for me, I’m unsure the place I’m going from this so far as baddies are involved. I feel I’ve in all probability hit three of the best baddies of all time and Goliath being the last word icing on the cake.“
Ludi Lin advised Display Rant the sequel is “gonna be pretty immense, everything is going to be bigger. The story’s going to be great. Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, I hope you guys are ready, because he’s going to blow your socks off.” He mentioned that City fills out the function of Johnny Cage, and the essence that he brings to the character provides one other dimension to it, serving to convey the film to the subsequent stage.
Talking with The Direct, Lawson took a second to hype up the return of his character Kano, who was killed within the first film. “I can say that within the second Mortal Kombat, Kano has a brand new chapter in his life, that being dying. And, you understand, dying alters you. So yeah, put together yourselves for a Kano 2.0. As everyone knows, if anybody’s a fan of video games, Kano’s alliances can change on the drop of a hat, and that’s actually true in the second… [It’s going to] maintain you in your toes guessing [about] who Kano’s form of siding with.“
PRODUCTION
Mortal Kombat 2 began filming in June of 2023 – however hadn’t been rolling for lengthy earlier than manufacturing needed to shut down as a result of writers and actors strikes. After a 4 month break, filming resumed in November and wrapped in January of 2024. James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Michael Clear are producing Mortal Kombat 2 alongside Damaged Street Manufacturing’s Todd Garner. Simon McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh are additionally producers on the movie. Additionally extra concerned within the course of this time round was Mortal Kombat online game co-creator Ed Boon.
Lewis Tan additionally advised ComicBook.com, “Now, we have Ed Boon with us as well, so we got the stamp of approval from the legend himself. #2 is just going to be absolutely insane. Way bigger.” Ed Boon advised Polygon, “Warner Bros. owns the IP, however I’m truly extra concerned now. I’m concerned with the animated sequence, and the subsequent film that’s popping out, so it’s very thrilling, as a result of there’s some actually cool stuff that’s being labored on. Simply being concerned within the scripts and which characters we’re going to incorporate [in projects], and all that stuff, could be very thrilling for me. Earlier than, I used to be concerned, however not in an official capability. Now, it’s somewhat bit extra official. And it’s an thrilling time — I can’t wait to see folks’s response to a few of the loopy stuff that’s popping out.“
The 2021 Mortal Kombat was rated R for robust bloody violence and language all through, and a few crude references. In November of 2024, we discovered that sequel has been rated R for robust bloody violence and gore, and language.
As manufacturing got here to an finish, producer Todd Garner took to social media to share some behind-the-scenes pictures, whereas forged members additionally celebrated the profitable completion of the movie.
In February of 2025, the movie’s brand and a Johnny Cage poster have been unveiled:
And that’s the whole lot we learn about Mortal Kombat 2… for now.
