Mortal Kombat Star Offers Hopeful Message After Being Killed Off

Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat

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Massive spoilers ahead for Mortal Kombat!

With moviegoers returning to theaters, a handful of major blockbusters have been released. The latest of these is Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat adaptation. The R-rated fighting sequences resulted in a few horrifying death scenes, and now one cast member has offered a hopeful message after being killed off in the first movie.

The new Mortal Kombat movie featured a number of iconic characters, and seemingly planted seeds for various sequels. But some fighters were seemingly killed off too soon, including Max Huang’s Kung Lao. He recently addressed his shocking onscreen death, saying:

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Well, color me intrigued. While not actually confirming any plans for Kung Lao, it certainly seems like anything is possible if Mortal Kombat gets a sequel. After all, being killed has never stopped fighters from appearing in future games.

Max Huang shared this cryptic message about Mortal Kombat over on his personal Twitter. Huang is getting a ton of attention for his badass portrayal of Kung Lao, especially the character’s deadly fatality. And it’s for that reason that fans were sad to see him go so soon.

Mortal Kombat is available for a limited time on HBO Max. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

While there were a number of deaths throughout the course of Mortal Kombat, Kung Lao’s was one of the most tragic. He’s the only hero to fall throughout the course of the main plot, which seemingly excludes him from any possible sequel. Although Max Huang seems to feel differently.

Rather than being killed via a bloody fatality, Kung Lao died by having his soul sucked out by the villainous Shang-Tsung. Perhaps he’ll be able to return due to this unique death. Or conversely, maybe he’ll appear as a dark Revenant of his former self.

The Mortal Kombat games have featured Revenant forms of the franchise’s heroes for a number of years now. A Revenant form of Kung Lao would be a cool way to introduce that concept to the films, and would also be an excuse to bring back Max Huang in the role. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed. Then again, other major characters were unceremoniously killed off throughout the course of Mortal Kombat. Fan favorite Mileena bit the dust, as did a dialogue-free Reptile. Kabal also died, who is another common character throughout the video games.

Mortal Kombat is in theaters and HBO Max now. Be sure to check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.