Mortal Kombat, the video game, continues to be a crowd favorite. The films, however, have observed a different fate over more than three decades of their existence. Following a revival in 2021, the series confirmed a sequel to Mortal Kombat the film, and the fourth installment in the franchise, Mortal Kombat II, coming to the fans this May. Ahead of its release, the star of the movie, Karl Urban, exclusively shared some insights with Pinkvilla about their participation in the project.
Karl Urban shares how he came to become Johnny Cage for Mortal Kombat II
Turning into the martial arts enthusiast, American action film star Johnny Cage, meant diving knee deep into the stunts that come along with the role. Karl Urban took it upon himself to get into the role fully, including learning about his mannerisms and setting. Talking about the challenge that it was physically, he revealed, “When we first meet Johnny Cage, he’s a very dispirited character. His career is in the tank, and he’s fallen on hard times. He’s not in a great way at the beginning of our story. The journey for Johnny through this movie is one of how he finds himself, how he finds his inner power. It was a fantastic script from Jeremy Slater, and it takes Johnny on a big journey, and I was drawn to that.”
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Sharing how he went back to the drawing board, which meant starting from the beginning, he learned everything possible about the character, which included, most importantly, the physical bits. He said, “As part of my research, I delved into the culture of martial arts and martial arts tournaments, because that’s where Johnny grew up. And then when I landed at the airport to start filming, they picked me up and drove me straight to a stunt rehearsal, because the stunt choreography was such a massive undertaking. So, from day one, I was thrown in at the deep end. We had an extraordinary stunt team—one of the best I’ve ever worked with—and I’m very grateful to all of them. I’m super excited for the audience to see what we came up with!”
Sharing the story of how the heroes of Earthrealm are now joined by Johnny Cage, who must fight his own comrades while trying to deter the control of Shao Kahn and its effects on them. The martial arts fantasy film, Mortal Kombat II, hits the screens on May 8, 2026.
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