Mortal Kombat 1 almost featured John Wick in the game’s expansive roster

John Wick was supposedly almost a part of the Mortal Kombat 1 roster. Franchise creator Ed Boon tried to make it happen, but ultimately couldn’t secure the rights.

Mortal Kombat 1 is now available worldwide and initial reception has been near-unanimously positive. At least, that’s for those playing on new-gen hardware and not the brutal Nintendo Switch port.

Historically, the series has incorporated characters from all different types of games, films, and the like. Be it Kratos from Sony’s God of War franchise or a Xenomorph from the Aliens IP, we’ve seen all sorts over the years and 2023’s MK1 is no different.

Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker have all been locked in for the new release, with further datamines hinting that plenty more is just around the corner too. But it now appears one massive name didn’t quite make the cut: The Baba Yaga himself, John Wick.

When discussing the game’s early cinematic influences in an interview with Rolling Stone, franchise creator Ed Boon touched on a few modern action icons that could be perfect fits in the over-the-top, excessively violent universe of MK.

One character in particular immediately jumped out, as Boon mentioned the dev team tried to get John Wick for Mortal Kombat 1.

“I could certainly see the John Wicks of the world… as a matter of fact, that is one of the ones that we tried to get – John Wick – in Mortal Kombat.”

Ultimately, things didn’t quite pan out and they “didn’t get it,” meaning John Wick in Mortal Kombat remains a pipe dream for now. But there’s no denying the pure idea of Keanu Reeves on the roster would certainly turn heads, and it’s something they even considered without the John Wick name attached.

In early discussions about the 2023 release, Mortal Kombat 1 devs speculated on the idea of having every single character played by a Hollywood celeb. In that vision, Keanu Reeves could have been Kenshi, Boon described.

“This is, like, pipe dream. We’re not even thinking of their salaries and all that stuff. What if we made a game that had an actor, a famous, recognizable actor play every character?”

One part of that vision did in fact come to life, with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing Johnny Cage, but the full roster obviously panned out in a different way given the scope of the work.

“There are hundreds of lines of dialogue that they have to read. A lot of actors don’t realize just how sophisticated video games are. When you sign up for it, you’re not just signing up to go in one day, be in the recording studio for an hour, and you’re done. It’s like a real acting job.”

So for now, Keanu Reeves nor John Wick will be massacring their opponents in Mortal Kombat anytime soon. But with the idea now out in the wild, perhaps it’s one the dev team will look to revisit in the near future.