Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat II was the most challenging role of Karl Urban’s career

Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid is back at the helm for the sequel Mortal Kombat 2, and while the video game adaptation wrapped production back in January of 2024 after a bumpy ride through the year of the strikes, they had to go back for some reshoots that summer. Since then, we’ve been patiently waiting for this sequel to come along. It was supposed to reach theatres back in October, but got bumped to May 15, 2026. While we continue to wait, cast member Karl Urban has revealed that this movie gave him the most challenging role of his career!

Cast

Mortal Kombat II stars returning Mortal Kombat cast members Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, 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 Max Huang as Kung Lao. New additions include Karl Urban (Dredd) as Johnny Cage, 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.

The film has earned an R rating for strong bloody violence and gore, and language.

Johnny Cage

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Karl Urban said, “I asked for a heavy-action content movie, and for my sins, they gave me one. It was the most challenging role that I’ve ever undertaken in my career. It’s the martial arts. The form and the style of martial arts is so specific, and the choreography, at times, is so definitive in its movement, and there’s a precision of execution for it to look good. It was a huge challenge. … As part of my research, I went to karate tournaments and looked at the younger generation of martial artists coming through to see what it was like growing up in that environment, as I imagine Johnny Cage had done when he was a kid.”

The Entertainment Weekly article also reveals that Cage is “a washed-up Hollywood actor. A former karate student as a kid, he grew up to be a big shot in the Sylvester Stallone-, Jean-Claude Van Damme-, and Arnold Schwarzenegger-era of B-action movies, but he’s now working the dried-up fan convention circuit.” He’s in the twilight of his career when he gets recruited into the Mortal Kombat tournament – and his fighting skills are rusty and sloppy when he has his first fight, which pits him against Kitana.

Crowd Pleaser

Screenwriter Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on the Marvel / Disney+ series Moon Knight, has said that test screening audience responses to Mortal Kombat II have been so enthusiastic, they’re on the level of the reaction he (and many other movie-goers) had to Avengers: Endgame – which sounds good for Garner’s sequel plans.

Garner told FutureBoyWho2 (with thanks to SuperHeroHype for the transcription), “We’re hoping that this is not the end of the franchise. So, this is not like we’re just doing this movie and this is going to be it, hopefully. We have a plan further down the line for things.” Referencing the character Hanzo Hasashi becoming Scorpion and Bi-Han becoming Sub-Zero and then Noob Saibot, he added, “Those characters have evolved. I know everybody’s waiting for Kano to get the metal plate in his eye. That will happen. … If we’re allowed to do further movies, hopefully this one does well enough, there’s chances to do other things, spinoffs, another sequel to propel the story, bring in different characters, and evolve the characters that we already have.” He even teased that the character Rain could appear in Mortal Kombat 3… and it has already been confirmed that Mortal Kombat 3 is in the works.

Are you looking forward to seeing what Karl Urban does in the role of Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat II? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

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