The Kano character didn’t make it through the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie alive, getting taken out with a garden gnome to the eye… but that isn’t stopping Josh Lawson from reprising the role in the sequel Mortal Kombat 2. Speaking with The Direct, Lawson took a moment to hype up his character’s return, saying viewers should prepare themselves for Kano 2.0.
Director Simon McQuoid is back at the helm for the sequel, working from a screenplay 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.“
The sequel stars returning Mortal Kombat cast members Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, 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. New additions include Karl Urban (Dredd) as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Princess Kitana; Tati Gabrielle (You) as Jade, the friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana; Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi; bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) as Outworld emperor Shao Kahn; Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka) as Kahn’s wife Queen Sindel; and Desmond Chiam (Joy Ride) as Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) until Edenia’s warriors lost in the Mortal Kombat tournament.
As mentioned, Mortal Kombat 2 also features Josh Lawson as Kano. Lawson told The Direct, “I can say that in the second Mortal Kombat, Kano has a new chapter in his life, that being death. And, you know, death alters you. So yeah, prepare yourselves for a Kano 2.0. As we all know, if anyone’s a fan of games, Kano’s alliances can change at the drop of a hat, and that’s certainly true in the second one… [It’s going to] keep you on your toes guessing [about] who Kano’s kind of siding with.“
The video game adaptation wrapped production back in January after a bumpy ride through the year of the strikes, then they had to go back for some reshoots this past summer. We still don’t know when this movie is going to be released – but it shouldn’t be much longer before we’re hearing release date news, because the Motion Picture Association ratings board has seen the movie and given it a rating! Mortal Kombat 2 has been rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, and language.
Are you looking forward to Mortal Kombat 2, and to seeing Josh Lawson as Kano 2.0? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.