All the way through the buildup and promotion for the
Mortal Kombat reboot, the key members of the creative team constantly hammered home the idea that they’d deliberately sought out accomplished martial artists for the cast, to give a balance between actors that could do justice to the fight sequences just as well as the performances, which always made Josh Lawson’s Kano feel like a bit of an outlier.
Lewis Tan, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Ludi Lin, Max Huang and Nathan Jones all have extensive martial arts training and experience, while co-stars Mehcad Brooks and Jessica McNamee have appeared in several film and television projects that require stunt training. Lawson, meanwhile, is best known as a comedic presence, with his most high-profile roles prior to