Sci-Fi Storm

Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse alum Tahmoh Penikett was announced today to be joining the cast of the online series Mortal Kombat, which we announced Monday. Reportedly he will take on the role of Kurtis Stryker, a NYC cop who uses his police equipment when he fights.

Update: I completely missed the fact that Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary) is also in the cast, reportedly as every gamer’s favorite Thunder god, Raiden…

Warner Premiere (a division of Warner Bros, which specializes in the development and production of both features and digital content for home entertainment platforms) is producing a live-action digital new media series “Mortal Kombat”, based on the iconic gaming franchise which has already spawned multiple arcade and console games, two movies, two TV series and an animated series, and yesterday they announced the initial cast which will include Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) as Lieutenant Sonya Blade (reprising her role from the unofficial short film “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth”), Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight) as Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs, and Darren Shahlavi (300) as Kano.

Kevin Tancharoen, who directed and produced the popular, unofficial “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth” fan short that garnered over 10 million views worldwide, is bringing the same immersive directing style to this live-action digital new media series. Fans will be able to delve deep into the history of the warriors they know and love including “Sub-Zero” and “Scorpion.” Shooting for “Mortal Kombat” is currently underway in Vancouver.

In addition to the digital series (details on distribution have not been released yet), a new game will be released on April 19th, 2011, on both the [asin=B003O6E1JS]Playstation 3[/asin] and [asin=B002I0J998]XBox 360[/asin], in Standard, Kollector’s and Tournament Editions. (link fixed for PS3 version)