EXCLUSIVE: Even with Mortal Kombat II‘s release still a ways away, New Line is already gearing up to expand the film franchise with a third installment.
After penning and executive producing the sequel, Jeremy Slater is eyeing to return as screenwriter, having just announced Mortal Kombat III at New York Comic-Con. Sources said Warner Bros. is very high on the second film, which over the summer shifted its release back from October 24, 2025 to May 15, 2026. Their confidence was supported by the release of the first red-band trailer, which racked up 107 million global views within 24 hours of its July drop, setting a new all-time record for a red-band trailer.
There’s no word yet on the story of the third film, or when we can expect it. But it’s expected that it’ll be the same producing team this time around. Producers on Mortal Kombat II included Todd Garner, James Wan, Toby Emmerich, E. Bennett Walsh and Simon McQuoid, who directed the first two films. With the exception of Emmerich, each of these creatives also produced the first film, released in 2021. Executive producers on Mortal Kombat II include Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Slater and Lawrence Kasanoff.
Based on the blockbuster video game franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, which originated as a 1992 arcade game by Midway Games, the Mortal Kombat films revolve around a series of martial arts tournaments held to determine the fate of realms like Earthrealm and Outworld. The tournaments pit heroes like Liu Kang, Raiden, and Sonya Blade against such villains as Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, and Scorpion.
Lewis Tan led the 2021 film as Cole Young, an MMA fighter facing off against Outworld enemies in a high-stakes battle for the universe. In the sequel, which expands on the first film’s worldbuilding, fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
In addition to Tan, returning cast includes Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, 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. Newcomers apart from Urban and Ford include Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, Desmond Chiam, Ana Thu Nguyen, and Damon Herriman.
McQuoid’s 2021 reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise was a big success despite releasing simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max amid the Covid pandemic, grossing over $84 million worldwide. Unlike the first film, Mortal Kombat II will get to test the rebooted franchise’s full box office potential with an exclusive theatrical release. It’s been a long road to screens for the sequel, which was forced to suspend production one month in due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, completing production in early 2024, after the guild completed its latest round of labor negotiations.
Mortal Kombat II and III scribe Slater is best known for creating Disney+’s Marvel series Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac, as well as the hit Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, alongside Steve Blackman, and Fox’s The Exorcist. In film, his credits include Death Note, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Fantastic Four, The Lazarus Effect, and Pet. He is repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
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