‘Mortal Kombat 3’ Is Already in Motion — Here’s Every Detail We Know About the Threequel

The ‘Mortal Kombat’ franchise has come a long way since its reboot began with modest ambitions. The 2021 film arrived simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, a casualty of pandemic-era distribution strategy, yet still managed to pull in $84.4 million worldwide against a $55 million production budget.

It was enough to prove that a hungry audience existed for this universe, and Warner Bros. took note. Now, with ‘Mortal Kombat II’ fresh in theaters and already generating serious heat, the wheels on a third installment are spinning faster than anyone expected.

‘Mortal Kombat II’ arrived, and its momentum was nothing short of staggering. The first red-band trailer pulled in 107 million global views within just 24 hours of its July drop, setting a new all-time record for a red-band trailer. That kind of cultural attention was clearly enough to shift the studio’s thinking into high gear.

Warner Bros. approached ‘Mortal Kombat II’ as a soft reboot, shifting focus from Lewis Tan’s Cole Young to Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage. Early critical reception validated the gamble, with the sequel earning a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a notable leap from the first film’s 55%.

New Line Didn’t Wait for the Box Office

The confirmation of ‘Mortal Kombat 3’ came before a single fan had even seen the sequel. At New York Comic Con, Jeremy Slater, the screenwriter of ‘Mortal Kombat 2,’ was officially announced as the writer of ‘Mortal Kombat 3.’ The studio’s confidence was rooted in extraordinary early signals.

Speaking at the NYCC panel, Slater said, “Our friends at New Line and Warner Bros. are so happy and excited with this movie. They are so convinced that there is a giant fanbase waiting for it that they already hired me to start writing the next installment of ‘Mortal Kombat.'”

If Slater is returning as the writer, it is widely expected that director Simon McQuoid will also return for the third installment, having launched his directorial career on both previous ‘Mortal Kombat’ films. The cast picture looks equally promising. Surviving characters and their actors are expected to return, including Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, and Tati Gabrielle as Jade.

The Script Is Already Done

One of the most surprising developments in the threequel’s early life came not from a studio announcement but from a social media post. Producer Todd Garner posted a photo on X revealing the bottom half of the film’s script, bearing Slater’s name, a ‘Based on the games from NetherRealm Studios’ credit, and a ‘Draft 1.1’ signifier. The writing phase, in other words, has already wrapped.

More intriguing was what fans spotted on the cover page. The cover of Slater’s script features the classic logo from the 1995 ‘Mortal Kombat III’ arcade game, a detail that sent fan communities into a frenzy of speculation. It is widely being read as a deliberate nod toward the source material the third film may draw from. That original game’s story saw Shao Kahn use resurrection as a loophole to breach the barriers between Earthrealm and Outworld and merge them as one world, stripping billions of souls away in the process.

What the Story Could Look Like

The ending of ‘Mortal Kombat II’ laid some very clear groundwork. Earthrealm won the tournament on a technicality, with Kitana switching sides from Outworld to Earthrealm and killing Shao Kahn to avenge her family. Raiden then leaves Outworld with Shao Kahn’s necromancer, Quan Chi, as their prisoner, stating that their next mission will be to resurrect their fallen comrades. That setup, combined with the MK3 logo tease, strongly hints at a story centered on resurrection, realm-merging, and an apocalyptic invasion of Earthrealm on a scale the films have not yet attempted.

Slater revealed that he had already finished an early exploratory draft, describing his process as a throw-everything-at-the-wall approach to see what sticks, the same method he used on the second film. That kind of creative momentum, paired with a completed script, suggests the gap between ‘Mortal Kombat II’ and its follow-up could be significantly shorter than the nearly five-year wait fans endured between the first and second entries.

A Franchise That Has Already Made History

It is worth pausing to appreciate how far this reboot has come. The 1990s film adaptations topped out at two entries before the franchise went dormant, with 1995’s ‘Mortal Kombat’ followed by 1997’s ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.’ The current series has already cleared that bar and is heading for trilogy territory with serious studio backing and a finished script in hand.

The global opening for ‘Mortal Kombat II’ was projected to land between $70 million and $80 million, with at least $30 million expected from international markets. If those numbers hold or surpass expectations, Warner Bros. will have every reason to push ‘Mortal Kombat 3’ through the pipeline with urgency. The kombat, it seems, is far from finished.

Let us know in the comments how you want to see ‘Mortal Kombat 3’ expand the universe and which fighters you are hoping to see step into the arena.