Director Simon McQuiod is reportedly returning to lead the sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat reboot, which was a commercial success.
As reported by Deadline, McQuiod has been brought back on board to direct the sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat, which also happened to be his directorial debut.
Despite a middling critical reception, Mortal Kombat was deemed successful enough by New Line Cinema to produce a sequel.
The first movie tells the story of washed-up MMA fighter Cole Young who becomes entrapped in a scheme that pits him against Earthrealm’s new crop of Mortal Kombat champions. While the movie does feature plenty of existing Mortal Kombat characters, the protagonist Young was a new entry to the universe.
The sequel will be written by Jeremy Slater who is best-known for his writing work on television shows like Umbrella Academy and the Exorcist, as well as Moon Knight on Disney+ where he serves as the show’s head writer.
McQuiod's background is in directing commercials, for some of which he’s won awards. Mortal Kombat was McQuiod’s first directorial attempt and despite only a moderate critical reception, the movie was a commercial success.
In an interview with Variety last year, McQuiod explained that Johnny Cage was not included in the original movie as Cage is a giant personality that would upset the balance of the film. However, he tentatively stated that characters like Cage and Kitana may appear in potential future films.
Building on this, head writer Slater stated in an interview with ComicBook that Cage would feature in the sequel, though he isn’t quite sure to which degree yet. Professional wrestler The Miz has expressed interest in taking on the role of Cage in the past, though nobody has been officially cast as of yet.
The release date for the sequel to Mortal Kombat is not yet known but with a director now in place, it's likely the production process will likely speed up.