Fans are already speculating about a possible Mortal Kombat 1 character reveal at this year’s Comic-Con: the popular Ashrah from the 3D era. Many classic Mortal Kombat fighters have already been confirmed for NetherRelam’s upcoming sequel/reboot, be they fully playable combatants or supporting members of Mortal Kombat 1’s new Kameo roster. The most recent Mortal Kombat 1 trailer was centered around the ancient Lin Kuei clan and featured appearances from fan favorites like Smoke, Rain, Cyrax, and Sektor.There is still plenty of time to reveal more fighters ahead of Mortal Kombat 1’s launch this September, and previous rumors have suggested that NetherRealm could mine the 3D titles of the mid-2000s for returning warriors. A leaked Mortal Kombat 1 roster from back in June contained several names from beloved MK titles like Deception, Deadly Alliance, and Armageddon, and while this isn’t concrete evidence of NetherRealm’s plans plenty of the characters included on it have already been confirmed for Mortal Kombat 1. Thanks to some recent social media teases regarding Mortal Kombat 1’s planned appearance at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con 2023, fans are now speculating that yet another name from that list will soon be revealed. According to the official Comic-Con website, actress and longtime Mortal Kombat alumni Kelly Hu will be present at Mortal Kombat 1’s designated panel on Friday, July 21, where her role in Mortal Kombat 1 will be officially announced. In the past, Hu has lent her voice to villainous characters like D'Vorah and Sindel (at least in Mortal Kombat 10), but fans like Twitter user BruskPoet believe she could be playing Mortal Kombat Deception’s Ashrah instead.
The grounds for this theory are the fact that Kelly Hu is already set to voice Ashrah in the upcoming animated movie Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match, which is centered around returning Mortal Kombat 1 combatant Johnny Cage. In the games, Ashrah is a demon who hunts her own kind - which makes her a wildcard in the ongoing battle between good and evil. It is this unique nature that caused Ashrah to become a favorite among longtime Mortal Kombat fans, but she has yet to make another appearance in the series after Deception save for a few Easter Egg references.
Having Kelly Hu return in Mortal Kombat 1 is a treat regardless of which character she is voicing, but gamers with fond memories of the old 3D Mortal Kombat titles would certainly welcome the reappearance of Ashrah after such a long absence. Mortal Kombat 1’s rebooted timeline could also put an interesting new spin on her, just as it has for confirmed characters like Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Fans won’t have to wait too much longer to find out if Kelly Hu is indeed voicing Ashrah in Mortal Kombat 1, as her role will be revealed at Comic-Con next Friday.
Mortal Kombat 1 will be released on September 19, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Comic-Con