Warner Bros have greenlit the sequel to Mortal Kombat (2021) and have confirmed that Joe Taslim will return as Noob Saibot and Johnny Cage will play a pivotal role.
Earlier this year the Indonesian Judo master Joel Taslim, the actor who plays Sub-Zero in the new Mortal Kombat 2021 movie, had a live chat with Scot Adkins during which Adkins lets it slip that Johnny Cage may be in the sequel.
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Director Simon McQuoid recently spoke to Variety about the upcoming Mortal Kombat sequels (including Mortal Kombat 2 movie) where he explained how the lore allows for various ways for dead characters to return to the central storyline, from reincarnation to alternate timelines.
“If you just look at the game, it’s exactly what the game has done in a really interesting way. I think we can perhaps learn from [the Mortal Kombat games] and try to do something interesting, again, there’s a big asterisk on all of this. I think the way they handle timelines and alternative iterations of the same character is really interesting. It doesn’t always mean that character comes back, ‘Oh, I’ve been reincarnated. I’m the same,’” the Mortal Kombat director explained.
However, the film has already received a lot of criticism for butchering existing Mortal Kombat lore. First time screenwriter Greg Russo and Wonder Woman 1984 writer David Callaham seemingly knew very little about the game and didn’t use much from the franchises expansive lore that spans 30 years, many games and an animated TV series.
Mortal Kombat, starts off promising then the Lore gets all fucked up… IDK who this MMA guy is supposed to be but god have mercy don’t let it be Liu Kang.
— itsagundam (@GundamIsHere) April 24, 2021
McQuoid continued: “There’s some really interesting evolution and growth of these characters. The experience of death informs who they become. So I guess I don’t want death to be something that is inconsequential. That is something I certainly thought about as we discussed this story and what that means. So I think there are opportunities there, and certainly Sub-Zero has some opportunities.”
One thing that the creators of Mortal Kombat will not skim on is the character progression of Sub-Zero to Noob Saibot.
Sub-Zero returns as Noob Saibot.
In original Mortal Kombat Lore Bi-Han was the original Sub-Zero before he died; one of the most powerful and devout warriors of the Lin Kuei clan. While essentially neutral, he was a cold-blooded, vicious assassin whose soul had become corrupted from years of violence and remorseless killing.
At the end of the first Mortal Kombat (2021) movie, Bi-Han is murdered by Scorpion who is avenging his slain family. Although the film does ignore most lore, it remains faithful to this and — according to our sources — the sequel will continue to somewhat remain faithful to Bi-Han’s cannon where he is resurrected by the Elder Gods as Noob Saibot.
The director even teased the transformation of Sub-Zero to Noob Saibot throughout the movie. Towards the end Sub-Zero removed his blue armour revealing a pitch black ninja suit much like Noob Saibot.
Joel Taslim confirmed that he has signed on to multiple Mortal Kombat sequels, including the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat 2 movie (2023), and will return as Bi-Han and quite possible his younger brother Kuai Liang.
Johnny Cage will play a big part.
There was a lot of speculation about Lewis Tan‘s role in Mortal Kombat (2021). At first many were convinced that the Wu Assassin’s actor was playing a reimagined version of Johnny Cage but our sources later confirmed this to be false. Lewis Tan was, in fact, playing an original character written specifically for the movie called Cole Young.
Fans became increasingly concerned when producer Todd Garner told Inverse that they excluded Johnny Cage from the movie because he was a bit too white and would ultimately take away from the film’s diversity.
“There are a lot of characters in the Mortal Kombat universe and there’s no character I could take and dust off and give a new backstory. We needed somebody to completely manipulate, so there’s not 30 years of people going, ‘You can’t do that,’” Garner said.
He continued: “I feel like if I was getting to make a movie with a diverse cast, it felt weird to have a white actor, literally Johnny Cage, be the hero of the story.”
Fans can rest easy because Johnny Cage will be in the Mortal Kombat 2 movie (2023) and he will play a big role. Not only was this teased right before the end credits but Joe Taslim even accidentally let it slip that Scot Adkins will play the celebrity fighter and movie star, Johnny Cage, in the sequel.
During a live discussion that took place earlier this year Joe Taslim let it slip that there was already a sequel in the works and hinted that Scott Adkins might be playing Johnny Cage.
“I mean, you have to come back. I really hope that if we have the sequel, I really hope that you’re apart of it. I really hope they have to call you — and this is me and just my opinion — but I really hope you can play Johnny Cage,” an excited Taslim said.
Adkins responded by saying that he is available and is eagerly waiting for that call.
A source close to the producers told us that Warner Bros have ordered a Mortal Kombat film trilogy and that the budget for all three films combined is between USD$150 to 200 million. Mortal Kombat 2 movie will be reportedly be filmed here in Australia in early 2022 and will hit cinemas mid 2023.