Meet the Mortal Kombat cast and their videogame characters

Plot details for the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie are still unknown, but the casting continues to provide clues. 

Directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by Aquaman’s James Wan, the film is getting ready to start filming this fall in Australia ahead of a 2021 theatrical debut. Here’s a look at who has been cast so far.

Ludi Lin from Power Rangers, Aquaman, and Netflix’s Marco Polo stars as fan favorite Liu Kang, one of the original characters from the first 1992 Mortal Kombat game. An orphan raised by the Shaolin order, he’s often a protagonist.

Mortal Kombat is a fighting tournament between representatives from various realms set up by the Elder Gods. If champions from one realm defeat another realm’s champions enough times, that winning realm can then invade. Liu became a champion of Mortal Kombat when he saved Earthrealm (that would be us) from invasion.

McQuoid and the producers are committed to assembling an international cast for Mortal Kombat, and so far they’re succeeding. 

Joe Taslim, a martial artist and actor from Netflix’s The Night Comes for Us film and Cinemax’s Warrior series, was first cast as Sub-Zero. With a mastery over ice, the Lin Kueiclan grandmaster can freeze opponents in a block of ice or conjure an ice axe to hack them away. 

If there’s Sub-Zero, Scorpion usually isn’t far behind. 

Hiroyuki Sanada has too many credits to count, but mainstream audiences will recognize him more recently in Westworld, Avengers: Endgame, and The Wolverine. 

The character gets his name from the sharp, metallic chain whip that shoots out of his open palm. Screenwriter Greg Russo teased the film will feature fatalities, those commonly gruesome finisher moves. Scorpion always has some of the bloodiest of the lot. 

As Sonya Blade, The Meg star Jessica McNamee steps into the military boots of this decorated Earthrealm Special Forces officer. Her squadron is one of this realm’s many defenses against otherwordly threats, and now she runs the show.  

Sonya has lots of friends. Kano is not one of them. The leader of the Black Dragon clan, this black-market arms dealer has an underground network that spans continents and realms. His defining feature is a cybernetic eye that, in this year’s Mortal Kombat 11 game, fires off laser beams. 

Mehcad Brooks stepped away from The CW’s Supergirl to pursue other roles. He can finally tell us one of them. Jax Briggs has literal muscles of steel as a cybernetically enhanced member of Earthrealm Special Forces. He lost both his arms in the line of duty, but returned with an upgrade: two metalic arms. 

Tadanobu Asano played an Asgardian in the Marvel movies as Hogun of Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. Now he takes on Raiden, God of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm. He has saved earth too many times to count over the years by assembling the finest fighters to do combat against enemies. 

Meet the host of the Mortal Kombat. Shang Tsung was born on Earthrealm but became a sorcerer when he traversed to the realm known as Outworld and pledged his allegiance to Shao Kahn, the embodiment of evil and the prime antagonist in many of the Mortal Kombat games. Shang must take souls to replenish his life force, granting him the ability to shapeshift and take on the abilities of the souls he absorbs. Chin Han of Skyscraper and The Dark Knight will portray Shang in the movie. 

Newcomer Sisi Stringer takes on Mileena, which we assume means she’s also playing Kitana, given the character’s whole history. Shang Tsu, having conquered the realm of Edenia, raised its princess, the fan-wielding Kitana, as his own. He later makes an evil twin version of her called Mileena, a lot more evil, viscious, and thirsty for the throne. 

Lewis Tan was cast in a lead role for Mortal Kombat, but the gatekeepers are keeping his role locked up in the vault. The actor previously played Shatterstar in Deadpool 2, and featured in Netflix’s Iron Fist and Wu Assassins. He also played Kung Jin in the web series Mortal Kombat X: Generations.

Mortal Kombat is scheduled for theaters on March 5, 2021.