Mortal Kombat II Director Simon McQuoid Explains Why Kitana Made the Cut Over Sheeva

A fan-favorite character entered the fold in Mortal Kombat II, with Adeline Rudolph as Kitana. Director Simon McQuoid shared how Kitana not only shaped the story of Mortal Kombat II, but also which character didn’t get her chance to shine because of Kitana’s inclusion — and why it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Kitana begins her story with tragedy. Her father is killed by Shao Kahn, and she is taken into his custody as his ward. He raises her as a warrior before she begins her own quest in Mortal Kombat. But Kitana is not truly fighting for Shao Kahn. Her anger drives her, allowing grief to guide her through a pretty fascinating storyline in Mortal Kombat II.

CBR spoke with McQuoid for the digital release of Mortal Kombat II and asked about bringing Kitana into the film franchise after so many people loved her in the game. He explained how her revenge story not only helped shape the film itself, but also helped determine which characters were brought in with her, including Jade.

“Well, it was very much about a sort of distillation process,” McQuoid said. “There’s so much to draw from with Mortal Kombat: so many characters, relationships, storylines and backstories, and good guys and bad guys — and levels of bad guys. There’s a lot to draw from. So it really was a question of, ‘OK, let’s go to the purest version.’
“Having Kitana in the second film, for instance, came about because I certainly wanted the female representation to be rebalanced. Then everyone at the studio and everyone else involved wanted that, too. So that was a no-brainer. We all wanted that.
“With Kitana, I loved that her primal, core Mortal Kombat story with Shao Kahn is very much a revenge story. It’s one that is very connected to the audience. With all this stuff going on — the tournament and everything else — we want to lock in on our heroes and their very clear emotional journeys. Kitana provided that, which gave us Shao Kahn, which then gives us Jade.”

How Kitana Shaped the Story of Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II Director Simon McQuoid Explains Why Kitana Made the Cut Over Sheeva — Kitana in Mortal Kombat II

Kitana is the kind of character young female Mortal Kombat fans knew from the start was the best. The boys eventually came around to realizing that fact, but the girls knew from the jump that she was the kind of character who could win.

Call it female intuition — or maybe girls just recognized that fans you can throw from a distance make better weapons. Kitana’s fanbase has always been there for her, so seeing her come to life in Mortal Kombat II was exciting.

But Kitana is also far from the only female character in the franchise, and another one is beloved by fans, too: Sheeva. Sheeva is a four-armed Shokan and an antihero in the franchise. She has also served as a warrior for Shao Kahn.

There is still potential for Kitana and Sheeva to have their moment together in future films in the franchise. But when introducing Kitana’s revenge story, it does seem easier to focus on Shao Kahn first.

McQuoid teased that we could have easily had Sheeva too, but she isn’t as core to the mythology of Mortal Kombat as Kitana is.

“And then it was like, ‘OK, so how are we going to tell the story of Liu Kang and Kung Lao? That needs to be continued,'” McQuoid said. “Because they’re so important to Mortal Kombat and what it is. It was a constant conversation like that.
“Then there were some characters who were going to be too expensive to add. Sheeva’s great, but she’s not as core as Kitana is. So it was just a constant back-and-forth and conversation about that.
“There’s probably some stuff I’ve forgotten because it was so many years ago when we were at that point in the storytelling. But it was just about trying to stay really pure to what’s essential to Mortal Kombat.”

You can see Kitana shine in Mortal Kombat II, which will be available July 28, 2026 on Digital Now & 4K UHD.