Mortal Kombat Reboot Casts Shang Tsung and Scorpion

The Mortal Kombat reboot and New Line have announced that Chin Han will play Shang Tsung, while Hiroyuki Sanada will play Scorpion. The two prominent castings join Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, and Josh Lawson as Kano.

The Mortal Kombat movie is poised to release on March 5, 2021 and is currently ramping up its pre-production ahead of filming in South Australia. As you will know, video game movies have a notorious history of losing directors and creative leads, but right now first time filmmaker Simon McQuoid is on as director, while James Wan, the producer of Aquaman, is on as producer. As for the script, it's penned by Greg Russo, the writer penning numerous upcoming video game movies, such as Resident Evil and Saints Row.

The upcoming reboot is poised to the be the third live-action Mortal Kombat movie, and the first since 1997. In other words, the first in 22 years. As a movie series, Mortal Kombat debuted back in 1995. The movie is widely considered one of the best video game movies of all-time. In 1997, it was followed up with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which isn't nearly as fondly remembered.

As for Scorpion and Shang Tsung specifically, both are big characters in the series, especially the former, which is more or less the face of the popular video game franchise, and one of the few characters who has appeared in every single entry. In other words, both of these are very important castings. As for the man playing Scorpion, Chin Han, he's a prominent actor in Asia, and has had roles in Ghost in the Shell, Independence Day, Arrow, and The Dark Knight. Meanwhile, Sanada, who is playing Shang Tsung, is probably best known for his roles in Avengers: Endgame, The Wolverine, and Twilight Samurai.

The Mortal Kombat movie is set to premier in 2021. For more news, media, and information on the upcoming reboot, click here.

Source: Variety