Mortal Kombat: Kung Lao is in the Film, But Won’t be Played by Lewis Tan

Lewis Tan had been a member of the Mortal Kombat cast for a while, but until now, his character has not been officially revealed. A lot of fans guess that he's playing Kung Lao opposite Ludi Lin's Liu Kang, but a recent press release has confirmed that Lao will be played by another actor.

According to a press release from New Line Cinema (via HN Entertainment), the role of Shao Lin monk Kung Lao will be played by stuntman Max Huang (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Hitman: Agent 47). We don't have any further details about the character, but Lewis Tan's role continues to be kept a secret.

HNE says that Tan's character is suspected to be a new face called Cole Turner, but seeing that there are already a handful of characters to choose from, it wouldn't make sense to introduce a completely new face to the MK movie.

Lewis Tan in Deadpool 2 (via Fox)

My personal guess is that Lewis Tan has actually been cast as superstar action hero Johnny Cage. He certainly has the looks for it, but I'm guessing that New Line is expecting backlash if he was announced as the character. Cage has been portrayed as a Caucasian character throughout the whole series, so I would it's likely that some people would take issue that one of the few white characters in the show has been cast as an Asian.

Of course, this is just my guess. It's likely Tan could be playing someone else entirely. I just think it's suspicious that one of the series' most popular characters won't be in the first film.

Mortal Kombat hits theaters March 5, 2021.

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