Serving as the sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, the animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms goes even bigger. The animated sequel stages the last tournament between EarthRealm and Outworld. Leading the charge to defend EarthRealm from Shao Khan and his team of conquering champions is Raiden and Liu Kang, with the latter embracing the martial arts destiny that was only hinted at for him in Scorpion’s Revenge. Jordan Rodriguez reprises his fan-favorite role in Battle of the Realms.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Rodriguez discussed getting to go all-out as Liu Kang in Battle of the Realms, shared his own personal connection with the Mortal Kombat franchise, and revealed what he wanted to bring to his performance as Liu Kang for the animated sequel.
After portraying Liu Kang in Scorpion’s Revenge, you come back with an even bigger role in War of the Realms. How was it getting to grow more into the character with this film?
Jordan Rodriguez: I, like the fans, was a bit shocked to see that Liu Kang took a backseat in the first film but, as Raiden said, it just wasn’t his time. He needed to be patient, even though he was frustrated by that. You really get to see him shine in this second film and take center stage and see him go into a whole other dimension with his moves and his fighting. It was very satisfying to watch.
When getting the opportunity to come back to a character for a second movie, what did you want to lean into with your performance from the first film? And what did you want to change up?
I was really glad that he had more lines to say. I think he was very quiet in the first one because that’s how Liu Kang is. You really got to see a lot more emotion from Liu Kang’s character and that’s because we’re so invested in the relationship between him and Raiden. He really wears his heart on his sleeve for this film which is awesome to see.
I was talking with Bayardo de Murguia and he said he got to record his lines opposite co-star Patrick Seitz. Did you get to run your lines with Dave B. Mitchell or was it just the director and producer?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work with Dave but it is still such a really amazing experience to be in the booth with director Ethan Spaulding, [producer] Rick Morales and [screenwriter] Jeremy Adams. They were just so much fun to work with. They’re a really cool bunch of guys and they made me feel very comfortable and relaxed in the recording booth.
With Liu Kang being such an iconic, ubiquitous character and this being the 30th anniversary of Mortal Kombat, was there any personal stamp you yourself wanted to leave with the character?
I think Liu Kang is a very Zen character. I really wanted to put into the character for him to be a vulnerable person even though he’s this masculine beast of a human being. I wasn’t afraid to take his emotional levels high for the emotional scenes, but in terms of the fighting sequences and the screaming, I went ham on that pretty much. The director just let me go for it. It was really cool.
As someone that’s done quite a bit of both on-camera and voiceover work, do you find the booth to be intimidating? Or do you find liberation in it?
Definitely liberation! The fact that I could just focus in on the voice and not worry about what my face is doing or what my body was doing. It was really cool that I could just hone in on that tool. I felt like I could go as far as I wanted to into that. It was awesome and such a really cool experience to be involved in this.
After having watched Scorpion’s Revenge and the production value and level of violence in the film, did that inform how you approached your return?
I think when I first heard about this project and read the script, I was like, “Oh, they’re making an animated Mortal Kombat! I wonder if my five-year-old nephews can watch this?”
When I saw the first draft of the animation itself, I was quite disturbed and pleasantly surprised and happy that they really paid homage to the Mortal Kombat Universe. After seeing the first movie, I was like, “Oh! I get it!” And that really informed how I was going to approach the second film and the things I was going to adjust and change. It just made me feel a lot more confident and comfortable going into the second film.
Do you remember what your first experience with Mortal Kombat was and who’s your favorite character to play as?
My first experience with Mortal Kombat was when my older brother was playing it at his friend’s place. Over dinner, as soon as my parents heard that’s what they were playing, they picked me up and carried me away so I didn’t get to see much. As a teenager, I started playing the games with my school friends and I was just blown away by how cool the gore was. It’s like a car crash that you can’t look away [from], but it’s really satisfying in a fucked up way. [laughs] [My favorite character is] Liu Kang all the way.
With that in mind, how cool was it to get the nod to play Liu Kang in Scorpion’s Revenge?
I was over the moon, but my friends, who are really diehard Mortal Kombat fans, look at me different now. It was like I was actually Liu Kang and, overnight, gained their respect for that.
What are you really excited for audiences to see with Battle of the Realms as this world gets even bigger this time around?
I think the action scenes are really paying respect to the Mortal Kombat Universe.
You get a deeper dive into their relationships — Liu Kang and Raiden, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage. I’m very excited for the audience to see Joel McHale as Johnny Cage again. He is just comedy gold and the perfect casting for this role. He had me cracking up the whole film. I think the battles are going to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen in animation and I feel like the diehard fans are going to go crazy over this. And the people who have never experienced Mortal Kombat, I really believe, this movie can turn them into diehard fans.
Directed by Ethan Spaulding, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is currently on sale in Blu-ray and Digital HD.
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