The series began thanks to Kevin Tancharoen, a former music video director who had an idea on how to make Mortal Kombat work as a live action film grounded in a sense of gritty realism, in the same way that Christopher Nolan’s Batman avoids the comic book pitfalls that could have plagued the Batman universe.
To prove this, the director decided to create a short martial arts movie set in our world, but using Mortal Kombat characters. The film, titled Mortal Kombat Rebirth, starred Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan. Paid for with his own money, the director then took the video to Warner Bros as a pitch for a possible new film series. You can see the original video here, although be warned, it is somewhat gory and not safe for work.
Warner nixed the movie idea, but commissioned Tancharoen to create a series of 10-episodes to be aired onlin. Each episode will be over 10 minutes, but no set release schedule has been given.
