Back in July, it was confirmed that 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. Now Mortal Kombat star Lewis Tan – who says he has been training his ass off to reprise the role of Cole Young in the film – has promised that the sequel will be “absolutely insane” and “way bigger” than its predecessor.
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema released Mortal Kombat to theatres and the HBO Max streaming service on the same day in April of 2021. When asked if the Warner Bros. / Discovery merger had any impact on the progress of Mortal Kombat 2, Tan told ComicBook.com, “(The merger) impacts a lot, but not really us in particular because New Line is the studio that is under the branch of Warner Bros. But they’re very happy with the movie, and obviously, it performed really well. It’s one of the most-viewed films of their Warner Bros. slate, even though it came out at the worst time ever possible. But no, we’re full steam ahead. And now, we have (Mortal Kombat video game co-creator) 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.“
The screenplay for Mortal Kombat 2 is being written by Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on the Marvel / Disney+ series Moon Knight. Earlier this year, Slater said that working on the project had been “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.’ … (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.“
Ed Boon told Polygon, “Warner Bros. owns the IP, but I’m actually more involved now. I’m involved with the animated series, and the next movie that’s coming out, so it’s very exciting, because there’s some really cool stuff that’s being worked on. Just being involved in the scripts and which characters we’re going to include [in projects], and all that stuff, is very exciting for me. Before, I was involved, but not in an official capacity. Now, it’s a little bit more official. And it’s an exciting time — I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to some of the crazy stuff that’s coming out.“
Are you looking forward to Mortal Kombat 2, and are you glad that Ed Boon is more involved with this one? Let us know by leaving a comment below.