How Mortal Kombat 2 Is Built On Fan Feedback Explained By Director & Cast
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Even before it started breaking records, the director and cast of say they took all of fans' feedback to heart going into the sequel.
Serving as a sequel to the 2026 reboot of the video game adaptation franchise, the new film sees the surviving fighters of Earthrealm continuing their efforts to prevent the forces of Outworld, led by the and his sorcerer Shang Tsung. Needing more help, the group head to Hollywood in order to recruit former action movie star Johnny Cage for their quest, all while Edenian Princess Kitana strives to free her world from Shao Kahn's rule.
Once again helmed by Simon McQuoid, the features almost the entire roster from the first film returning, including Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion and Damon Herriman, trading Kabal for Quan-Chi. The cast has also grown to include Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade and Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn.
Having spent roughly five years in development and production, on April 27, where it earned early rave reactions from viewers, which has evolved into it breaking multiple Rotten Tomatoes records. With a 64% approval rating from critics and a 90% from audiences leading into its May 8 release, the film officially holds the all-time best of both scores amongst any adaptation of the Midway Games fighting franchise.
Ahead of the film's release, ScreenRant's Ash Crossan interviewed Karl Urban, Josh Lawson, Jessica McNamee, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, Martyn Ford, Joe Taslim and Simon McQuoid to discuss Mortal Kombat II. When the returning stars were asked about what they found the biggest difference was between the two films, Taslim began by describing the 2026 hit as being "like a learning process," with the team having "given our best" to it, but getting the chance to "listen to the fans more" for the sequel.
The Sub-Zero actor went on to express that Mortal Kombat II is a "true gift" to fans of the franchise, as they "gave a lot of input" in the years after the previous film's release. Rather than look at "all those critics and comments" of the first film as coming from a place of malevolence, Taslim found it was all "for us to make a better Mortal Kombat" movie, and felt that they did succeed with the new film.
Ford concurred that franchise co-creator Todd Garner "was massive on" taking in fan feedback for Mortal Kombat II, recalling one of his first interactions with Garner during pre-production, in which he was "talking about what we want to deliver on this" in order to better live up to fans' expectations:
Martyn Ford: Todd was so, "We need to do this, we need to do that." And this has been given to — almost like a gift, in all honesty. If you think about it, we've kind of been given the recipe to make the perfect cake; we just needed to follow the recipe, follow the order, and give them what they wanted. So that was a massive help.
Mortal Kombat II Was Urban's "Most Challenging Movie" Yet
ScreenRant: I love this movie so much. I mean, it is nonstop. Once we get going, we are going. So physicality-wise, where does this rank in roles that you've done?
Karl Urban: For me, technically, the most difficult, most challenging movie I have ever done in my career. I mean, it was terrifying to walk into this movie and be working with guys like Lewis Tan and Max Huang, Ludi and Joe Taslim, who are all so supremely good at martial arts. It was scary. It was a big learning curve right from day one. In fact, they took me straight from the airport to a stunt rehearsal. There was no, relax, put your bags down. It was like, "Let's go."
Josh Lawson: Yeah. I mean, this is like my first foray into the action space. I'm a comedy guy, so this is by far the most physical stuff that I've ever done. I mean, in my life, I like to be physical, but it's never really been required. And I love challenges. Anything that's hard, I really want to get better at it. So yeah, I enjoy anything challenging, but this film was a lot of challenges.
Karl Urban: I think that's where you get the most interesting material, right? When you're a little out of your depth, that's when the gold happens.
ScreenRant: So you two on set together must have been hysterical. Simon told me there was a lot of improv. How was that? And is there an example?
Karl Urban: Josh is so adept at improv. And funny improv. It's in his DNA. So for me, I really had to level up, and working with him, I think, made me better at what I do. And I was really blown away at how much of the banter that we were encouraged to do actually made it into the final cut.
Josh Lawson: For sure. I mean, Karl's so nice about that, saying that I was the improviser, but so was he. But the thing about it that I think was so much fun was that we always stayed in character, I felt. Kano is his own thing, and Johnny is — It's not like Josh and Karl, that's a totally different vibe. But Kano and Johnny, it always felt like we were true, as when we were riffing, we always stayed in those characters, I felt. And that was fun.
Karl Urban: It was fun to be bi---y at each other.
Josh Lawson: Yeah yeah.
Karl Urban: They were. They were sort of like bi---es to each other.
ScreenRant: The audience really got a kick out of the Lord of the Rings reference.
Josh Lawson: Yes. I remember when he pulled that out, I said, I was like, "Oh, you have to keep that. That is too good."
ScreenRant: Oh, you just did that on your own?
Karl Urban: Yeah.
Josh Lawson: Totally.
Karl Urban: So, through making the movie, I figured out that Johnny Cage was a fan of Lord of the Rings, because I was looking around, I'm seeing characters that are reminding me of Lord of the Rings, Raiden is Gandalf. And so, I just started throwing stuff out there, and it grew. It took on a life of its own.
Kitana & Jade's Dynamic Has A Very Real History
ScreenRant: I am so excited to talk to you both. The movie is incredible. First of all, !
Adeline Rudolph: I know. I know.
Tati Gabrielle: Let's go!
ScreenRant: What does it mean to reunite?
Tati Gabrielle: It was the best thing in the world. I couldn't have asked for — honestly, because of the relationship between Kitana and Jade, it was such a blessing for me to be able to have Addie, and it's like, "Oh, this sisterhood is already there —"
Adeline Rudolph: Ditto.
Tati Gabrielle: "— We're just building it. We're just building a different version of it."
Adeline Rudolph: No, I think in terms of our chemistry, it really helped not to have to develop that in the moment. So we already had that as a foundation, could just really dive into our characters and their relationship on top of our preexisting foundation, which was so nice.
ScreenRant: Jade and Kitana, those are the characters I was always picking, going back and forth between them both. What was it like for you? I mean, seeing yourself in the look for the first time, what was your reaction? What did you think? What did you feel?
Adeline Rudolph: It was insane. I always feel this way, actually, I think, when you put on the costume, it all comes together in so many ways. I remember just seeing it for the very first time with Capp [Ireland], our amazing costume designer. And what was nice was they had a version of it prepared, and then they also worked with us to kind of incorporate comfortable elements so that we could move and fight in it. And so yeah, it was a wow moment to just see me in the mirror and be like, "Oh d--n, this is happening."
ScreenRant: The fans were bada—.
Adeline Rudolph: Yeah! Yeah, I had nine of them, 10 of them. Sorry, they have to be even, but yeah, I had 10 of them.
ScreenRant: Did you keep one?
Adeline Rudolph: Yeah.
ScreenRant: You have to. You have to.
Tati Gabrielle: Same for me. It was a trippy dream because, yeah, I always played as Jade as a kid when I played Mortal Kombat.
ScreenRant: That's awesome.
Tati Gabrielle: I'm like, "This is awesome. I'm doing this. This is it." And it's like, to see it, the way that Cappi took from different iterations of the characters to create our costumes and outfits, and you could see just bits of nostalgia in there. And so, it was just really rewarding, and just like, "Wow." Going from seeing the character mock-ups, the picture, to standing in front of the mirror and being like, "Okay, Hi, Jade. How's it going? Here, let's go. Let's do this." Yeah. And I love my staffs.
ScreenRant: Did you keep it?
Tati Gabrielle: I did. I got to keep one version.
ScreenRant: Going into this movie, there are a lot of new characters in it, but really, it is Kitana's movie. It's about the relationship between you guys. What does that mean to you just to take it on? And , so what do you want to see next?
Adeline Rudolph: Yeah. Oh gosh, that is, I don't know. I'm open to anything.
ScreenRant: You don't have to touch that.
Adeline Rudolph: But in terms of, I just really love that we got to focus on Edenia a lot, and on Shao Kahn's rule of it, and what that means to Kitana and Jade, and what we stand for. And it was just such an incredible opportunity to kind of also hold the emotional element of the movie in a lot of ways, and that arc.
Tati Gabrielle: And this girl's just bada—. She put in so much work and had a flawless victory.
The Time Between The Two Films Gave The Returning Mortal Kombat Stars More Prep
ScreenRant: I felt like the first movie got everything established, so this one, we just dive in. What did you notice from your perspective? What were the biggest differences between the first and the second film? Did it feel different in any way to you?
Mehcad Brooks: Absolutely. I mean, there was way more feminine energy, as you talked about earlier. We needed that to balance things out. There are more characters. We're delving into these characters' lives more, and it's just more fun.
Jessica McNamee: I also think it was scary going into the first one, not knowing what the fans were going to think, and whether they would like each of us individually as the actors that were cast in the roles, and the storyline, the whole thing. So once we got such a great response the first time around, I think I've personally felt a sense of confidence walking into the second, being like, "Great, they didn't hate me. They're happy with my performance. They love you. But it was fun. It was liberating the second time around. I was like, "Great, let's do this."
Ludi Lin: I think the preparation with the second one was a lot. We had more lead time. Yes, that's true. It was less chaotic because the first one, we really tried to film everything on location. That's the thing I noticed.
Mehcad Brooks: That was crazy. It was crazy.
Jessica McNamee: And the hours were much better on the second one.
Ludi Lin: And the scale of the second one's so much bigger. We had to fly to different places. And we were in so many places, in the Outback. We couldn't have done it [on the first movie].
Mehcad Brooks: Oh no, no way.
Ludi Lin: But Yohei [Taneda], the production designer, had done these meticulous sets on the second one.
Jessica McNamee: It's incredible.
Ludi Lin: It's crazy to walk into.
Jessica McNamee: So it was all in-studio, basically, the second time around.
Mehcad Brooks: But an entire village in a sound stage. It's unbelievable.
Ludi Lin: A city in a soundstage.
ScreenRant: So this time around, we have some new additions, new characters coming in. I mean, how do you all respond to ?
Jessica McNamee: I got no time. But I warmed up to him over the course of the film, and it was so much fun having him as an addition, and Karl's just the best.
Ludi Lin: Because the first one, I think Josh, who plays Kano, did the heavy lifting on the humor. So it's nice to have a foil, to have them kind of banter with each other. And yeah, Karl just comes up with the best stuff on set.
Mehcad Brooks: There was a moment, my first day working with him, and he's rolling around fighting Baraka, and I just looked at him, and I go, "You are Johnny f--king Cage." Like you really are. I was like, "Bro, you're Johnny f--king Cage." He's like, "Thank you." And he really brings that. It just feels authentic.
ScreenRant: I'll be totally honest. I don't know if I want to admit this on camera. I initially thought he might've been miscast, and then I watched it, and I was like, "Oh, I was so f--king wrong."
Mehcad Brooks: A lot of people are going to be wrong if they thought that.
Ludi Lin: Yes, I think a lot of people out on the internet thought that, and now he's just, he's going to —
Mehcad Brooks: And they're wrong.
ScreenRant: They're wrong. I was wrong.
Mehcad Brooks: He is Johnny Cage.
Ludi Lin: He's going to be like Hugh Jackman in Wolverine. He's going to be Johnny till he's 90.
Creating Baraka Required The Most "Trial & Error" Of All Of Mortal Kombat II
ScreenRant: Was that the biggest challenge bringing Baraka to life?
Simon McQuoid: There were many challenges, but he was certainly the most sort of — a lot of conversations, and trial and error on the physics of having a character that needed to talk. I didn't want to do it with VFX, and how we make teeth in the game that touch like that, that works in a game because you can, it's like you can jump over that realism, because it's not real, and our brains tell us that, so it's okay. But when we've got a story on a screen that's real, I want the audience to feel like, "Oh no, that's real." There are a lot of conversations about the mechanics of teeth and how they're going to work. So lots of trial and error, but we got there. And CJ, who plays Baraka, did an incredible job.
ScreenRant: I cannot imagine Josh and Karl on set together. Any moment they had together, because they're both hilarious in different ways, the characters are hilarious. I mean, are they riffing, or is a lot of it on the page?
Simon McQuoid: So, a fair amount was on the page, but both Karl and Josh have incredible improv skills. So really, they understood what the sort of very essential components of the structure of what needed to be said. And then what was great about working with those guys, it was just, "Do your thing, guys." And in one of the scenes where they're together as the film goes on, there's a sequence that they kind of developed together, and they worked out the comedy and the comedic beats. They have such great instincts. They both fed off each other really well. They kind of, in real time, wrote and developed improv, and I just let them do it, and they did their thing. It's great.
Be sure to dive into some of our other Mortal Kombat II-related coverage with:
- Josh Lawson on
- Director Simon McQuoid promising
Mortal Kombat II is now in theaters!
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Adeline Rudolph Kitana
Karl Urban joins this sequel to the 2026 film franchise update as Johnny Cage, with Mortal Kombat II continuing the saga of Earth's champions as they face new threats from the Outworld.
Prequel(s) Franchise(s) Main Genre Executive Producer(s) Andrew Lary, Anthony Tittanegro, Jeremy Slater, Judson Scott, Lawrence Kasanoff, Michael Clear, Pete Chiappetta Characters By Ed Boon, John Tobias Studio(s) Atomic Monster Productions, Broken Road Productions, New Line Cinema Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures Expand Collapse
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