The role of Mortal Kombat’s Johnny Cage has been filled by many different actors throughout the series’ history, but few of these portrayals will stand out to Mortal Kombat fans as much as Linden Ashby’s Johnny Cage in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Ashby played the fictional actor and martial arts expert in the 1995 live-action movie that was the first big-screen adaptation of the game, and if he had the chance, Ashby said he’d be down to return to the character for a sequel.

Ashby spoke to ComicBook.com recently about his time playing Johnny Cage in the Mortal Kombat that became a hit with fans when it was released over two decades ago. When the second Mortal Kombat movie called Mortal Kombat: Annihilation released years later, Ashby did not reprise his role as Johnny Cage. When asked if he’d be up for coming back to for a sequel while acknowledging that the series would have to pass off the story to different characters and not focus on what’s already been done.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Ashby told ComicBook.com if he’d be up for returning as Johnny Cage in a sequel. “And I think it would be … I know that it's not going to be about Johnny Cage and Liu Kang and Katana and Sonya. But it's like, you gotta hand off the franchise.”

Speaking about the other interpretations of Johnny Cage beyond what’s been seen in the games, Ashby said that the second Mortal Kombat movie “wasn’t indicative” of what the first Mortal Kombat film was. He also referenced the Mortal Kombat: Legacy series, another adaptation of the games with its own version of Johnny Cage.

“And I don't think that Mortal Kombat 2 or whatever was indicative of what Mortal Kombat 1 was,” he continued. “And I've never really watched any of the series. I mean I know a Casper Van Dien and he's like, ‘I'm Johnny Cage,’ and I'm like, ‘Yeah, okay.’”

Those who remember the Mortal Kombat movie fondly will recall one of the movie’s most memorable scenes as the fight between Johnny Cage and Scorpion, the fighter portrayed by Chris Casamassa. The most recent version of Johnny Cage Mortal Kombat fans have seen is the version of the character in Mortal Kombat 11 who’s voiced by Andrew Bowen.

Whether another Mortal Kombat movie following the events of the first will ever happen is unknown, but there is at least one Mortal Kombat film to look forward to. It won’t be until March 5, 2021 when we see that film in theaters, but we’ve already seen some casting announcements from it as people start filling the roles of Mortal Kombat’s most iconic fighters.