Over the past three decades of Mortal Kombat video games, the franchise has developed a deep and detailed backstory for practically every character. Now, with a new Mortal Kombat movie about to arrive in theaters and on HBO Max, film director Simon McQuoid has revealed how important that established lore is to the upcoming film.

"What I wanted to do--and Greg [Russo], the writer, said this even going in very early--is that we shouldn't be changing fundamentals," he said during a press event. "We can add a bit to help amplify lore and amplify stuff that is within."

One example of the additions or amplifications is something fans have already seen in the first trailer. "One is the example you've seen, which is Sub-Zero takes Jax's arms," McQuoid explained. "Now we know that was Ermac and there's even been other slightly different iterations of that through the years. But in this particular story, I needed to inform Sub-Zero as much as I needed to inform how Jax loses them."