‘Mortal Kombat II’ Shares New Look at Adeline Rudolph as Kitana

A new image from Mortal Kombat II has been shared online, offering a closer look at one of the sequel’s most exciting characters. The roster for the upcoming film packs a serious punch, with a mix of returning actors from 2021’s Mortal Kombat as well as several newcomers joining the fight. Adeline Rudolph is taking the mantle of Kitana, who is a mainstay of the bestselling video game franchise. Her next big screen outing is expected to be one of great significance, as she will reportedly have as big a role in the sequel as Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage – and it looks like he will be facing some major competition from the skilled assassin.

The latest image, which arrives courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, shows Kitana assuming a fighting stance with her arm outstretched and her signature weapon visible: a steel fan. She uses the bladed object as both a projectile weapon and for deadly melee attacks against her opponents. The close-up snap follows a previous photo (also shared in the gallery below) that showed a better look at her costume and her two razor-sharp fans, which feature a very intricate design. “They had to feel like they would cut your head off, but they needed to have a level of detail in them that made them feel handcrafted,” notes director Simon McQuoid.

Mortal Kombat II stars a number of fan-favorite champions from the video games, who will be pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds-barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn and end the threat to the Earthrealm and its defenders. Rudolph and Cage star alongside Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Damon Herriman as Quan Chi, with Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han, Desmond Chiam as Jerrod, Ana Thu Nguyen as Sindel, Max Huang as Kung Lao, CJ Bloomfield as Baraka, Martyn Ford as Shao Khan, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion.

Kitana Will Be Johnny Cage’s “Regal” Counterpart

Kitana’s storyline will be closely intertwined with that of newcomer Johnny Cage, a popular character from the video games who was teased at the end of the first film. Cage, “a washed-up Hollywood guy,” is enlisted to fight for the Earthrealm in a blood-soaked tournament that will see him go head-to-head with Kitana, a “regal” and “poised” opponent in battle. “Kitana’s storyline feels very much interwoven into Johnny Cage’s story, and they go in and out of each other through the movie,” Rudolph told the outlet, while also noting that, “Johnny Cage not being as seasoned as Kitana can be quite comedic” in the film’s action-packed fight scenes.

Fans will be able to see what moves they bring when Mortal Kombat II finally releases in theaters on May 15, 2026. The team behind the film will be hoping to build on the 2021 reboot’s tentative success and deliver a total knockout, with a hard-R affair that gives fans of the franchise exactly what they want: the legendary tournament between the Earthrealm champions and the Outworld warriors. The first movie garnered an 85% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes (versus a divisive 55% score from critics), but the sequel has the potential to push those percentages even higher, given that it’s “a little more ramped up.”