Mortal Kombat 3’s fate is uncertain, Mortal Kombat 2 director says

The ending of this year’s Mortal Kombat 2 left moviegoers with plenty of questions. Will freshly fatalitied characters come back to life? What really happened to Liu Kang after his battle with Shao Kahn? Will there be, as promised, a Mortal Kombat 3 movie?

At last year’s New York Comic Con, Mortal Kombat 2 screenwriter Jeremy Slater told audiences at a panel that New Line and Warner Bros. had already greenlit the next film in the Mortal Kombat movie franchise. But then the long-delayed Mortal Kombat 2 bowed in theaters to a surprisingly meager performance, grossing $129 million against a reported $80 million budget. While that’s better than 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot, which grossed $84 million after being released simultaneously in movie theaters and on streaming via HBO Max, MK2‘s theatrical haul doesn’t guarantee a sequel — especially during an uncertain period for Warner Bros.

Mortal Kombat 2 doesn’t have a post-credits sequel tease, but it does leave plenty of dangling plot threads. In an interview with the film franchise’s director, Simon McQuoid, we asked about the fate of both hero Liu Kang and a third Mortal Kombat movie to get some answers about what’s next.

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Mortal Kombat 2.]

What’s next for Liu Kang and Kung Lao

One of the most important (and most crowd-pleasing) moments from Mortal Kombat 2 is the confrontation between a zombified Kung Lao (Max Huang) and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) on a stage that pays homage to a classic Mortal Kombat location: the Blue Portal. McQuoid designed the fight to be stylistically symmetrical, and the battle was at one point at the exact midpoint in the film. The director said that particular fight was designed to emphasize the gut-wrenching conflict between the two former friends, a relationship that he hopes to explore in a future story.

“Liu Kang and Kung Lao had this really special relationship,” McQuoid told Polygon. “I don’t want to keep banging on about the Blue Portal [scene], but that was so important, because it was about their relationship. That led us to a place where Liu Kang needed to have an, I’ll say, ‘exit’ because it matched the nobility, spirituality, dignity and the positive power of Liu Kang. Ludi did an amazing job of really landing that.”

While Liu Kang wins that fight, he ultimately loses his “brother” Kung Lao and vows to somehow save him. But the end of Mortal Kombat 2 leaves Liu Kang’s fate unclear. After being mortally wounded by Shao Kahn, Liu turns into a column of flame and disappears.

“The way he was going to die — or exit —you know, it’s a really, really important character. So we knew we had to do something that was more unique and special,” McQuoid said. “We wanted a certain amount of freshness with what happened [to characters] each time, so you were always like, OK, we don’t know what’s gonna happen next. The goal there is to be able to sort of set up the next chapter in their relationship and, and have you, have the audience feeling like, Oh, that feels unique and interesting, rather than, Well, they both died, and we don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

So what about Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 2’s cliffhanger?

Image: Warner Bros.

“It was really about making sure that there were doors left open, rather than closed,” McQuoid said. “It’s kind of what we did in the first [Mortal Kombat], like, don’t get overconfident. [laugh] The audience tells you if there [should be] another one. Don’t get cocky about it and do what’s right for the characters. That’s always been the goal all along: Do whatever’s right for the truth of the characters.”

While Mortal Kombat 2 didn’t light up the box office, its predecessor was a big streaming hit on HBO Max. The film’s long-term success on streaming and on physical formats may be the deciding factor in whether we get a Mortal Kombat 3. Asked where those conversations are right now, McQuoid deferred, saying that it’s still too early to know.

“I don’t know whether I’m ready to divulge that one,” McQuoid said with a laugh. “As I think about it, it’s like, wow, that’s a minefield. It’s almost like Mortal Kombat 2 hasn’t had its full life cycle yet. So I think let it have its full life cycle and then, um, ask me in a few months. [laughs]”

Mortal Kombat 2 is available to rent and purchase digitally, and will be released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 28. A streaming release date on HBO Max has not been announced.