James Wan’s Mortal Kombat adds Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Producer James Wan and director Simon McQuoid's live-action adaptation of MORTAL KOMBAT is set to shoot in southern Australia later this year. And today we have word that the film has snagged its first official cast member with THE RAID star Joe Taslim joining the cast as Sub-Zero!

Sub-Zero was one of the original characters from the original 1992 game and he's a long-running rivalry with fellow fighter, Scorpion. Meanwhile, Taslim is best known for his debut role in THE RAID but has also starred in flicks such as FAST & FURIOUS 6 and STAR TREK BEYOND.

Mortal Kombat is one of the most successful fighting franchises in the history of video games but I know the series best by director Paul W.S. Anderson's 1995 adaptation starring Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Robin Shou, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, and Christopher Lambert.

That film's synopsis went like this:

Lord Rayden (Christopher Lambert) handpicks three martial artists — federal agent Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson), Shaolin monk Lui Kang (Robin Shou) and action movie sensation Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) — and mentors them. After intense training, Rayden transports the trio to Outworld, the site of an inter-dimensional fighting tournament. There, the three humans must defeat the demonic warriors of the evil Shang Sung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) — or allow Sung to take over the Earth.

This new take on the game supposedly centers on 

a male protagonist who becomes drawn into the interdimensional tournament, and who begins to realize his true potential as a result of the experience.

MORTAL KOMBAT will be the feature directorial debut for award-winning commercial director Simon McQuoid, who will be working from a screenplay written by Greg Russo and based on the video game franchise. Wan is producing the film with Todd Garner. Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear, and Sean Robins serve as executive producers. The flick is currently in pre-production and is set to begin filming in Australia on September 16th before being unleashed in a theater near you on March 5, 2021.