GET OVER HERE!
‘Mortal Kombat’ film sequel in the works
A sequel to the action-adventure film Mortal Kombat is officially underway.
As reported by Deadline, New Line has tapped Jeremy Slater to write the script for the upcoming sequel. Slater's recent works include Disney Plus' upcoming series Moon Knight, which stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy.
Slater also previously worked on the TV adaptation of The Umbrella Academy for Netflix, 21 Laps' film Uprising and Universal’s adaptation of The Tommyknockers by Stephen King.
Based on the 1992 acclaimed video game franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the martial arts fantasy film premiered simultaneously in theaters and HBO Max in April 2021, earning $83.7 million globally amid the pandemic.
The film follows MMA fighter Cole Young, who later discovers his heritage after facing Cryomancer and Sub-Zero—warriors sent by Emperor Shang Tsung.
He later joins Sonya Blade and Jax to find the temple of the protector of Earthrealm, Lord Raiden. After seeking the protection of the Elder God, Young decides to begin his training with Liu Kang, Kung lao, and Kano in a bid to prepare against the enemies of the Outworld. The film’s ending saw Young defeating Sub Zero with the help of Hanzo Hasashi (a.k.a. Scropion).
As of now, there are no other details about the upcoming film sequel, including cast lineup and a release date. However, it is expected to feature other fighters in the video game series including the fan-favorite Johnny Cage, who was briefly teased at the tail-end of the film.
Speaking to Variety last year, Director Simon McQuiod shared some of his ideas for the Mortal Kombat sequel, including why Cage didn't appear in the 2021 film.
“Sequels are a bit tricky because you can’t totally ignore them, because that wouldn’t be a smart move, but none of us used the ‘s-word.’ We’d never talk about it in any depth whatsoever because we feel like we have to put all our energy into this film. That being said, if the fans want another one, that’s not for us to decide; that’s for the fans to decide. Then, we need a couple of joiner pieces that we know can lead us somewhere because there’s a treasure trove of stuff that’s just sitting there,” McQuiod said.
He furthered: “The reason (Johnny Cage) is not in this original film is he’s such a giant personality that he almost has his own gravitational field. The feeling was that he would throw it out of balance slightly. I get asked about Kitana just as much as Johnny Cage. There’s a lot of interesting characters, story and material to work with. So we haven’t really dug into it; we just know we’re very privileged that’s sitting there. If we do get to that, and I’m not saying we will, I’m just saying if—big ‘if’— then we’ll go down that path.”
As for other characters potentially appearing in the sequel, McQuoid said: “I guess I’d like to shift it to be a little more female. There are some fantastic female characters in Mortal Kombat. And I think we can bring balance there, to a better extent. There were no other specific characters we really wanted to put in. Very early on, there was a scene with Rain, but he wasn’t being done justice and wasn’t driving the story forward. That’s a reason he got put back on the bench. There are a lot of characters to choose from. I’ve been so busy trying to calibrate this ensemble that I haven’t thought too much about any others beyond just understanding who people really love, who gets talked about a lot and who are really interesting characters.”
New Line's Mortal Kombat starred Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Josh Lawson (Kano), Joe Taslim (Bi-Han), Mehcad Brooks (Jax), Matilda Kimber (Emily), Laura Brent (Allison), Tadanobu Asano (Lord Raiden), Hiroyuki Sanada (Hanzo Hasashi), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Max Huang (Kung Lao), Sisi Stringer (Mileena), Mel Jarnson (Nitara), Nathan Jones (Reiko), and Daniel Nelson (Kabal).
Prior to the 2021 film, the popular video game franchise was first adapted into the big screen in 1995’s Mortal Kombat while a sequel titled Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was released in 1997.