Looks get boring fast if that's all you're banking on
At a bar built for champions on Australia's Gold Coast, two actors promoting a sequel found themselves doing what storytellers have always done — imagining new doors in worlds already built. Karl Urban and Josh Lawson, speaking about Mortal Kombat II, turned a press conversation into a small act of creative play, pitching gender-swapped characters with the ease of people who have genuinely fallen into the mythology they inhabit. It is a reminder that the most durable fictional universes are the ones that invite even their own cast to keep dreaming inside them.
- The Mortal Kombat franchise's multiverse logic has cracked open a door that neither the studio nor the cast seems eager to close — alternate versions of beloved characters are now a legitimate conversation.
- Josh Lawson didn't hesitate: a female Kano, christened 'Jane-o' on the spot, with Kathleen Turner's unmistakable voice doing the heavy lifting — an instinctive pitch that landed with conviction.
- Karl Urban turned to the woman already sitting beside him — co-star Jess McNamee — and handed her a hypothetical franchise extension, nominating her for Janet Cage without missing a beat.
- McNamee's off-camera laugh and Lawson's joke about lawyers already dialing suggested the idea had more traction in the room than anyone was officially admitting.
- Beneath the playful speculation ran a more serious current: both actors had already agreed that what makes a fighter compelling isn't appearance but depth — kindness, resilience, the capacity to outthink — a philosophy quietly shaping how this entire cast approaches the material.
Karl Urban and Josh Lawson were at Dirty Harry's Bar at Gold Coast's Movie World — a setting that felt appropriately cinematic — when the conversation about Mortal Kombat II took a turn toward the hypothetical. Urban plays Johnny Cage, Earthrealm's newest champion, a character whose real power in this telling comes not from swagger alone but from a fundamental shift in self-understanding. Lawson, returning to the franchise, was equally clear-eyed: looks fade fast as a source of interest. What holds an audience, both men agreed, is something harder to fake — mental fortitude, kindness, the will to outthink rather than simply outfight.
Then someone raised the idea of gender-swapped characters, and the room became a makeshift casting office. Lawson moved first, naming his hypothetical female Kano 'Jane-o' without irony and nominating Kathleen Turner — specifically her voice, that distinctive gravelly register — as the only logical choice. It wasn't a throwaway answer. It was the kind of instinctive casting that comes from actually living inside a character's logic.
Urban didn't need to look far. He gestured toward Jess McNamee, his co-star and the film's Sonya Blade, and suggested she was already the natural fit for Janet Cage. McNamee laughed off-camera. Lawson joked that she was probably already on the phone with her lawyers.
Whether either character ever reaches a screen is genuinely unknown. But the ease of the exchange — the comfort, the chemistry, the shared creative vocabulary — said something real about what had been built behind the scenes. Earthrealm's defenders, it turned out, had already become a team.
Karl Urban and Josh Lawson were sitting at Dirty Harry's Bar at Gold Coast's Movie World, the kind of place that feels like it belongs in a film about fighters and champions. They were there to talk about Mortal Kombat II, the sequel that had just arrived in cinemas, bringing the video game's lore and brutality to the screen in ways that made longtime fans feel like they were part of something exclusive.
Urban plays Johnny Cage, Earthrealm's newest champion, a character beloved in the games for his swagger and martial prowess. The film explores Cage's origin story, and early in the movie, there's a battle sequence involving a Tarkatan that serves as proof enough that Urban understands the assignment—the confident, capable fighter with looks to match. But when the conversation turned to what actually makes a character compelling, both actors pushed back against the obvious answer.
Lawson, returning to the franchise after the first film, was direct about it: looks get boring fast if that's all you're working with. What matters, he and Urban agreed, is something deeper—kindness, mental fortitude, the ability to outthink an opponent. It's a philosophy that mirrors how Urban has approached Johnny Cage itself, showing a character whose real power comes from a fundamental shift in how he sees himself and his role in the fight ahead.
The conversation then took a turn toward pure speculation. The Mortal Kombat games, with their multiverse logic and timeline-hopping mechanics, leave the door perpetually open for wild casting possibilities. Someone brought up the idea of gender-swapped versions of classic characters—Janet Cage, for instance, or a female take on Kano. The room became a makeshift casting office.
Lawson jumped in first, immediately christening his hypothetical character "Jane-o" and throwing out a name: Kathleen Turner. He wasn't joking around. Turner's voice—that distinctive, gravelly timbre—felt right to him for the role. It was the kind of instinctive casting choice that comes from actually thinking about who could inhabit a character, not just who looks the part.
Urban didn't have to search far. He turned to Jess McNamee, his co-star in the film who plays Sonya Blade, and suggested she'd be perfect for Janet Cage. The suggestion drew a laugh from McNamee off-camera, though Lawson was quick to note that the wheels seemed to be turning—she was probably already calling her lawyers, he joked, ready to make it happen.
Whether Janet Cage or Jane-o ever make it to screen remains an open question. But the ease with which these actors riffed on possibilities, the obvious comfort they had with each other, suggested something about the Mortal Kombat production itself: the cast had built the kind of chemistry that mirrors the alliance they're supposed to be defending on film. Behind the scenes, Earthrealm's fighters were already tight.
Notable Quotes
Looks are the first thing to get boring if that's all you're banking on. What matters is kindness and mind over matter.— Josh Lawson
She's getting her lawyers in here. She's making it happen.— Josh Lawson, on Jess McNamee's reaction to being cast as Janet Cage
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter what these actors think about hypothetical characters? They're just having fun, right?
On the surface, sure. But it tells you something about how the cast approaches the material. They're not just showing up to hit marks and deliver lines. They're thinking about the lore, the characters, the possibilities.
But neither of these characters actually exists in the films yet. Isn't this just wishful thinking?
It is. But it's the kind of wishful thinking that matters. It shows the filmmakers and the studio that the cast cares enough to imagine what comes next. That's how franchises grow.
Karl Urban suggesting his co-star for a role—isn't that a bit convenient? A little too neat?
Maybe. But it also suggests real working relationships. He's not throwing out a random A-list name. He's saying, "I know this person, I've worked with her, she could do this." That's different.
So what does this tell us about where Mortal Kombat is heading?
That the door is open. The games have always played with alternate timelines and versions of characters. The filmmakers seem to understand that. They're not locked into one version of the story.