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Mortal Kombat Sequel Officially in the Works with New Writer

Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat

Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is returning for round 2.

A sequel to the 2021 video game adaptation is officially in the works at New Line Cinema, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter confirmed. A different screenwriter is attached to the project: Jeremy Slater, who is the writer of Disney+'s next Marvel series Moon Knight.

Last year's Mortal Kombat was directed by Simon McQuoid and written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham with a story by Oren Uziel.

It was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in April, debuting at No. 1 at the box office and amassing the biggest opening weekend streaming numbers of all the day-and-date releases brought to the platform last year. (Mortal Kombat outdid viewership for titles like Godzilla vs. Kong, The Suicide Squad, The Matrix Resurrections and Dune.)

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In a May interview with IGN, Brad Wilson, WarnerMedia's executive vice president of growth and revenue, reacted to Mortal Kombat exceeding expectations. "Mortal Kombat was an interesting title for us because I will say that while we expected it to do well, we did not expect it to do as well as it did. It's been one of our top assets on the platform," he said at the time.

RELATED: Josh Lawson Calls His Role as Kano in Mortal Kombat a 'Childhood Dream Come True': 'So Grateful'

Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat

Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat

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No sequel plot details or cast lineup have yet been revealed. McQuoid told Variety last year about potential ideas for a followup movie.

"Sequels are a bit tricky because you can't totally ignore them, because that wouldn't be a smart move, but none of us used the 's-word.' We'd never talk about it in any depth whatsoever because we feel like we have to put all our energy into this film," said McQuoid at the time. "That being said, if the fans want another one, that's not for us to decide; that's for the fans to decide. Then we need a couple of joiner pieces that we know can lead us somewhere because there's a treasure trove of stuff that's just sitting there."

He added, "There's a lot of interesting characters, story and material to work with. So we haven't really dug into it; we just know we're very privileged that's sitting there. If we do get to that, and I'm not saying we will, I'm just saying if — big 'if' — then we'll go down that path."