Fans shouldn’t expect to see Ellie from The Last of Us as a special guest fighter in Mortal Kombat 12, and series co-creator Ed Boon has just revealed why. After almost two whole years of rumor and speculation, Mortal Kombat 12 was finally confirmed by parent company Warner Bros Discovery during a quarterly earnings call late last month. Naturally, this has caused longtime Mortal Kombat fans to speculate even further about what this newest entry of the infamous fighting game franchise will bring if it is indeed launching sometime later this year as the earnings call has claimed.One of the many areas of speculation surrounding Mortal Kombat 12 is what special guest characters could be joining franchise mainstays like Scorpion and Liu Kang on the blood-soaked fields of battle. Ever since 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot, developer NetherRealm has included game, comic, and film characters from outside the MK universe like Kratos, the Predator, and even John Rambo. Fans are already building wishlists for Mortal Kombat 12 guest fighters, and often ask Ed Boon about bringing in brutal legends like John Wick, John Constantine, and the nameless Doom Guy for a round or two of hard-hitting attacks and grizzly Fatalities.However, Mortal Kombat series co-creator Ed Boon has just confirmed that at least one popular video game character won’t be crossing over into the unforgiving world of Mortal Kombat 12: Ellie Williams from Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us series. When asked about including Ellie as a guest character in MK 12, Boon quickly shot down the notion by stating that he does not want to see any of the Mortal Kombat franchise’s signature Fatalities performed on her. Of course, Boon may be joking in his answer, as he is known for his playful approach to engaging fans online.
PlayStation gamers were first introduced to a then-teenage Ellie in 2013’s The Last of Us, where she is one of the few survivors of a nightmarish plague that has transformed much of humanity into terrifying Infected monsters. Ellie quickly became a popular character in both The Last of Us and its 2020 sequel, and this has only grown in the wake of the highly successful The Last of Us television series on HBO earlier this year, which had Game of Thrones and Hilda star Bella Ramsey play the role of Ellie alongside The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal.
Ellie is no stranger to brutal violence in her home series, but The Last of Us fans hoping to have her take in Mortal Kombat 12 might be disappointed in Ed Boon’s latest social media answer. On the other hand, it’s easy to see why Boon and other players might not be able to stomach seeing such a beloved character suffer through gory Fatalities, especially given how young Ellie is in the Last of Us games. Fans will still have to wait to see what guest characters could show up in Mortal Kombat 12, but one increasingly mainstream choice has likely just been taken off the list.
Mortal Kombat 12 is in development.