2021’s Mortal Kombat wasn’t exactly everything fans could want from a movie based on the classic video game franchise, but it still proved to be a hit with HBO Max users when it landed just over a year ago. It was clear from the off that Warner Bros. were hoping to start a new universe with this one and, sure enough, a sequel is on the way. The good news is that it sounds like number two is going to double down on the things that worked last time around and fix what didn’t.
The man behind the script for Mortal Kombat 2 is screenwriter Jeremy Slater, fresh off showrunning Marvel’s just-concluded TV series Moon Knight. In an interview with TheDirect.com, Slater confirmed that he’s already 50% of the way through the screenplay. Although it’s too early for him to dish out plot details, the scribe did promise that the production team have definitely learned their lessons from the first movie and are determined to make this one more “satisfying” and “unpredictable.”
As Slater put it:
“It’s really fun so far. We’re about halfway through the script. 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.’ So we’re really looking at this as a 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.”
As Slater says, some of the storytelling choices of Mortal Kombat ’21 did not go down so well with the fans, particularly the pretty baffling decision to not actually feature the iconic tournament. If the filmmakers intend to give folks what they want this time, though, we can likely rest assured that this oversight will be rectified for the follow-up.
Star Lewis Tan — who plays original character Cole Young — has previously praised the “really smart” Slater as the best choice to write Mortal Kombat 2. Tan stressed that he hopes the 110-minute runtime of the last flick can be extended for the sequel so that it can “explore more characters and more themes.” He’s also counting on some amped up action, too, teasing a “bigger and bloodier” movie all-round.
With Slater’s Moon Knight being one of the more mature offerings in the MCU, Tan and the fans will hopefully be treated to just that whenever Mortal Kombat 2 kicks its way onto screens.