Mortal Kombat 2 casts Shao Kahn, Quan Chi, and more

Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid is returning to the helm for the sequel that we’ll refer to as Mortal Kombat 2 until someone tells us otherwise. Filming on this follow-up is expected to begin soon (unless the writers strike causes a delay), and over the last month and a half McQuoid has been steadily building up his cast. The Boys star Karl Urban has been cast to play Johnny Cage; Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) is set to play Princess Kitana; and Tati Gabrielle (You) is taking on the role of Jade, the friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana. Now Deadline reports that four more actors have joined the cast, filling the roles of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, Kahn’s wife Queen Sindel, Netherrealm demon Quan Chi, and Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) until Edenia’s warriors lost in the Mortal Kombat tournament. It looks like we’ll be seeing a flashback to Jerrod’s downfall in this movie.

Shao Kahn will be played by bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga). Queen Sindel will be played by Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka). Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) has been cast as Quan Chi. And Jerrod will be played by Desmond Chiam (Joy Ride).

Cast members returning from the previous Mortal Kombat movie are Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young, 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.

The screenplay for Mortal Kombat 2 has been written by Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on the Marvel / Disney+ series Moon Knight. Last year, Slater said that working on the project had been “really fun so far. … 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.’ … (The sequel is) 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.“

Tan has promised that the sequel will be “absolutely insane” and “way bigger” than its predecessor.

Are you looking forward to Mortal Kombat 2? What do you think of the cast that has been assembled for this one? Let us know by leaving a comment below.