After the original short (which can now be seen below) hit the web and gained ten million hits last year, it’s hardly surprising that Warner Bros. are going forward with a new series of Mortal Kombat webisodes, and testing the water for a potential new movie somewhere down the road.
Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (to give the series its full title) is a completely new version of the story that differs from the video-games upon which it is based in a number of ways; most notably by playing down the series’ most fantastical elements, and attempting to place the main characters is a much darker and surreal, comic-book style, world in which entering into a fist-fight ‘to-the-death’ with the cities most dangerous criminals is a perfectly acceptable means of preventing them terrorizing the city.
Michael Jai White (Blood and Bone) will be returning to the web-series as Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs; now a police captain in Deacon City; along with his partner Sonya Blade (portrayed by the returning Jeri Ryan; best known for playing the catsuit wearing Borg, Seven of Nine, in Star Trek: Voyager), and the cunning villain Kano (Darren Shahlavi, 300).
Also appearing will be many classic characters from the games; including Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Liu Kang; many of whom have re-envisioned backstories that have been crafted by writer/director Kevin Tancharoen (Fame); who says “it’s extremely gratifying to have such talented actors playing these iconic roles.”
Rebirth is currently shooting in Vancouver, and is due to make it’s debut online this spring; with each episode providing new insights into characters featured in the next video-game, and the history of the game’s universe; when Tancharoen stresses the cast will “bring the essence of Mortal Kombat to life.”
