Karl Urban had a blast playing Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2, calling it the most action-packed fun he’s ever had on a set
Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid is back at the helm for the sequel Mortal Kombat 2, which recently wrapped production after a bumpy ride through the year of the strikes. This film will be bringing popular video game character Johnny Cage to the screen, with Karl Urban of Dredd, Star Trek, and The Boys taking on the role. Despite Urban’s established awesomeness, he was an unexpected choice for Johnny Cage, and there are some fans who have let it be known that they would have chosen someone else to play the part. We’ll have to wait and see how it turned out, but one thing we know right now is that Urban had a great time working on the movie, calling it “most action packed fun I’ve ever had on a film!”
Urban said that while celebrating the end of production on Instagram, where he made a post that can be seen at the bottom of this article. He wrote, “That’s a picture wrap for me & Johnny Cage on Mortal Kombat 2! Massive thanks to our incredible crew, cast and phenomenal stunt team. Hands down the most action packed fun I’ve ever had on a film! Can’t wait for y’all to see it. Special thanks to everyone offset who helped make this time here on the Gold Coast Australia such a pleasure.“
The screenplay for Mortal Kombat 2 has been written by Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on the Marvel / Disney+ series Moon Knight. Last year, Slater said that working on the project had been “really fun so far. … I’m working really closely with the director and the studios, and the game guys, and I think—I can’t say anything about the actual story, but I think they definitely learned some lessons the last time around in terms of, ‘Here’s the stuff fans responded to, and here’s what people liked out of the movie, and here’s the stuff that didn’t work out as well as we hoped.’ … (The sequel is) the chance to take everything that worked in the first one and do it even better and give the audience even more, and make something that is just incredibly satisfying, and really exciting, and unpredictable.“
In addition to Urban, Mortal Kombat 2 stars returning Mortal Kombat cast members Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, and, as mentioned, Max Huang as Kung Lao. New additions include Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Princess Kitana; Tati Gabrielle (You) as Jade, the friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana; Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi; bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) as Outworld emperor Shao Kahn; Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka) as Kahn’s wife Queen Sindel; and Desmond Chiam (Joy Ride) as Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) until Edenia’s warriors lost in the Mortal Kombat tournament.
Are you looking forward to Mortal Kombat 2, and to seeing Karl Urban play Johnny Cage? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.