NetherRealmThe live action Mortal Kombat movie has just added a string of classic characters to its lineup, with Liu Kang, Raiden, Jax and Mileena all set to join the upcoming reboot.
Variety has reported that Ludi Lin has been cast as the scrappy Shaolin monk Liu Kang, who’s been a staple of the Mortal Kombat roster since the 1992 original. You might recognise Lin from Power Rangers and Black Mirror.
NetherRealmMeanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Tadanobu Asano (who played Hogun in the Thor movies) is currently in talks to play a very different kind of lightning-powered behemoth – Raiden. Like Liu Kang, Raiden has been part of the roster since the original game.
Supergirl actor Mehcad Brooks has been cast as Jax, much to the disappointment of the scores of fans who were campaigning for Terry Crews to get the role. Obviously, I’m sure Brooks will do a great job, and no matter how upset you are, Terry Crews himself is probably the most bummed out of all to not have gotten the role he was so vocal about wanting.
Finally, Sisi Stringer (a relative newcomer) will play the assassin Mileena. All four of the new additions join actor and martial artist Joe Taslim (The Raid), who’ll be playing Sub Zero.
Mortal Kombat is being produced by James Wan (The Conjuring, Aquaman) and is the feature directorial debut of Simon McQuoid. The reboot was announced back in 2016 – though Warner Bros has been trying to get a reboot off the ground since 2011.
NetherRealmMcQuoid previously told ABC that they’ll probably take certain artistic licenses with the Mortal Kombat IP in the interests of telling a fresh new story, explaining that they’ve “gone back to the source material” and are turning it “into an epic world” by going “deeper” than the games.
This had some fans a little on edge, but it does seem as if the movie is looking to stay fairly true to the source material. While previous reports suggested we wouldn’t see many characters from the games make an appearance in the reboot, the recent casting news entirely puts paid to those claims.
NetherRealmWhile we don’t know anything about the movie’s plot, we do know thanks to screenwriter Greg Russo that it’ll be R-rated and feature the one thing we all want to see from a Mortal Kombat movie: big screen fatalities packed with gore.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.