Following this morning’s news that Ludi Lin will join the cast as Liu Kang, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that three more have joined the cast of New Line’s Mortal Kombat movie. Supergirl‘s Mehcad Brooks will play Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs, the cyber-enhanced officer of the Special Forces; newcomer Sisi Stringer plays Mileena, the evil clone of Kitana; and Tadanobu Asano is Raiden, the immortal god of thunder.
They join a cast that also includes Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero. The film, which will be directed by Simon McQuoid from a script from Greg Russo, will film in Australia near the end of the year.
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Midway Games developed he first video game in the series, released in 1992. The storyline sees a diverse range of fighters hailing from eighteen different realms become pitted against one another in an epic tournament. Quite a few sequels followed the original game with the most recent, Mortal Kombat 11, released earlier this year.
Two Mortal Kombat movies were previously made. The first, simply titled Mortal Kombat, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, came out in 1995. A sequel, Annihilation, arrived two years later, also paving the way for two television series: the animated Defenders of the Realm and the live-action Konquest. We’ve also seen two web series from director Kevin Tancharoen based on the property.
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The new Mortal Kombat movie will follow a male protagonist who becomes drawn into the interdimensional tournament, and who begins to realize his true potential as a result of the experience. James Wan and his Atomic Monster banner will produce along with Todd Garner. Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear, and Sean Robins are executive producing.
The film, which is set to hit theaters on March 5, 2021, will go head-to-head with Sony’s upcoming film adaptation of the classic Mattel toy and cartoon franchise Masters of the Universe, and an untitled Universal Pictures Event Film.
(Photo credit Getty Images; Sisi Stringer photo via CBM Management)
