Mortal Kombat Co-Writer Says Film Was Written As Start to a Trilogy

The co-writer of the about-to-release Mortal Kombat film says that the movie was designed to be the start of a trilogy. Greg Russo, who co-wrote the film with Dave Callaham, spoke with CBR for a new interview and confirmed that there are two sequels planned for the movie, should it be successful.

“When I wrote Mortal Kombat, I conceived it as a trilogy; I didn’t even tell the people I was working with I was doing it as a trilogy,” Russo said. “Just as a writer, you never want to paint yourself into a corner or shutdown where your storyline could go. When I was writing the first film, I was always, in the back of my mind, outlining two more so I always knew where things could go. I would love to come back and explore, there’s just so much off the mythology that we didn’t have the time to get into [but] two hours is the right length for a first film. But there’s more, there’s the Shaolin monks, there’s the special forces, there’s all these spinoffs that you could see.”

Russo said that while the new film takes place on Earth, future films will likely go to the other realms. “I wanted to make sure there were places we could go and certain realms, we barely touched them,” he said. “For example, Edenia is a realm that I love and I love all the characters there — Kitana, Sindel, all these great characters — and as much I wanted to put them in the movie, the story said to wait a minute because that deserves its own time to shine so don’t jam these characters in there when it’s not right,” Russo continued. “And when it came to character selection, it’s all about doing the characters a service. But I would love to write more and love to explore more.”

The film stars Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Chin Han, Hiroyuki Sanada, Max Huang, Sisi Stringer and Lewis Tan. Directed by Simon McQuoid from a script by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, it releases in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23rd and is described as follows:

MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?