‘Mortal Kombat 2’ Writer Reveals Why Major Fan-Favorite Character Was Removed

Mortal Kombat 2 is finally in theaters, but fans noticed one popular fighter never made it into the sequel. Now, writer Jeremy Slater has explained why the character was removed before the movie was finished.

Speaking with GamesRadar+, Slater revealed that Tremor was originally planned for the film during early development. The lava-and-metal controlling ninja was supposed to appear in a fight scene against Sonya Blade, played by Jessica McNamee.

Slater explained that Tremor’s powers would have looked great on screen and added something different to the movie’s action scenes. In the original script, the character even had a full fight sequence before eventually being killed off.

However, as work on the movie continued, the creative team realized the character did not fit naturally into the story they wanted to tell. According to Slater, they decided to focus more on Sindel instead, believing she could bring more emotion and depth to the sequel.

Slater said the team felt Sindel had not been used enough in earlier drafts of the movie, so they wanted to expand her role. The character, played by Ana Thu Nguyen, is also connected to Kitana, which gave the story more emotional stakes during the tournament and the larger battle against Outworld.

The writer also admitted that Tremor’s role was simply too small to properly develop him for audiences who may not know the games very well. Since the Mortal Kombat universe already has a huge number of fighters, the filmmakers had to make difficult choices about who could realistically fit into the movie.

Tremor is still considered a fan-favorite by longtime players, even if he remains one of the franchise’s lesser-known characters overall. Unlike Scorpion or Sub-Zero, Tremor mostly appeared as downloadable content in the games and first debuted in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces back in 2000.

Mortal Kombat 2 continues the story from the 2021 reboot and follows Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban, as he joins Earthrealm’s fighters in the deadly tournament against Shao Kahn and Outworld. The sequel is directed by Simon McQuoid and features returning characters alongside several new fighters from the games.

Even though Tremor did not make the final cut, Slater’s comments suggest the team seriously considered including him before shifting the focus toward characters who had a stronger connection to the main story.

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