The new incarnation of Mortal Kombat has landed its new Liu Kang in Chinese-Canadian actor Ludi Lin, Variety reports. He is currently in negotiations with New Line Cinema to play the lead in its upcoming live-action version of the video game.
As the site notes, “Lin recently played the kung fu ace Lance in the Season 5 “Black Mirror” episode “Striking Vipers,” an Asian fighter within the world of an indisputably Mortal Kombat-inspired videogame central to the story.
Liu Kang is one of the seven original characters introduced in the first “Mortal Kombat” game, released in 1992 by Midway. The plot of the new reboot is still unknown, but game centered on the story of Liu Kang, a Shaolin monk with a resemblance to Bruce Lee known for his flying kicks, who tries to save the Earth by fighting for supremacy in a tournament.
Produced by James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring Universe) and helmed by commercial director Simon McQuoid, this new film version is expected to release in March of 2021. It is currently in pre-production and will begin shooting in Adelaide later this year, where it is set to be the biggest production in South Australia’s state history.
