WWE’s The Miz wants to play Johnny Cage in the next Mortal Kombat film

WWE Superstar ‘The Miz’ has reiterated his desire to play Johnny Cage in the next Mortal Kombat movie.

In an interview with Ryan Satin on Out of Character (as spotted by Comicbook.com), the Miz – real name Mike Mizanin – said he’d been training for the role ever since he was aware that there had been widespread support for his casting on social media.

Discussing his current projects, Miz said: “We have about three shows in development that could make it hopefully to television, hell – I want to play Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat, baby.”

“I have been working on my splits, I’ve been working on my kicks.” When asked if he had actually been working on his splits, Miz replied: “100%.”

He added: “As soon as I saw that Mortal Kombat was out and there was no Johnny Cage yet, [and] my name was literally trending worldwide number one as “we want Miz as Johnny Cage” I was like, if they want that to happen I need to basically make sure that I am prepared and ready, that if that opportunity presents itself then I will be ready and focused.

“So I called my trainer, who helped me on Marine 6 working on kicks and everything. I was like, ‘how do you do his intro kicks? I need to learn these and have them properly done. And I need them left-handed and right-handed because Johnny can do both.

Asked if he could do the splits yet, Miz answered: “It’s almost there”, adding: “Trust me, at 40, it’s hard. But if I hear that the fans want it, I’m doing to do my best possible ability to give them what they want.”

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In an interview with Looper last year, Miz said he had been made aware of the Johnny Cage character and that he felt like a perfect fit.

“I see Johnny Cage and my name is trending with Johnny Cage, and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ And all of a sudden, I just see my name associated with Johnny Cage [on social media], just flipping through,” he said at the time.

“And it’s not negative, it’s all positive. And normally when I’m in a feed of Twitter, it’s negative, 100%, all the time. But man, was it positive, and, man, were a lot of my fans really wanting me, even people, even my peers, even the co-creator of Mortal Kombat was like, ‘Yeah, we’d love to see The Miz as Johnny Cage’.

“And honestly, that would be a dream come true, and I would put everything I possibly have into that character and make sure that it gives the Mortal Kombat fans the Johnny Cage that they deserve.”

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon seemingly endorsed Miz for the role on Twitter last year, responding to a photo Miz posted of himself as Johnny Cage by saying: “Guy makes a compelling case.”

The sequel to last year’s Mortal Kombat movie is in the works at New Line Cinema.

The Warner Bros.-owned film studio has hired Fantastic 4 and Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater to pen the Mortal Kombat 2 script.

Last year’s Mortal Kombat film was helmed by Simon McQuoid, making his feature directorial debut. It released in April 2021 and helped drive what was then the US box office’s biggest weekend since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The video game adaptation generated some $22.5 million in its opening weekend and has reportedly exceeded Warner’s expectations. Its worldwide box office gross stands at almost $84 million, according to Box Office Mojo.