Mortal Kombat live-action digital series in development

Last June, the Internet was roiled by a live-action online short called "Mortal Kombat: Rebirth." The nearly eight-minute film, which received over 10 million views on YouTube, shows a reimagined Mortal Kombat universe and features glimpses of Reptile, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Sonya, and Scorpion. It is mostly set inside a Deacon City police department interrogation room, where Jackson "Jax" Briggs (played by Michael Jai White of Spawn and Black Dynamite fame) is proposing a deal to a prisoner obscured by shadows.

Playing the role of Sonya was Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager and Boston Public), who later revealed via Twitter that the short was "was made for the director to sell [Warner Bros.] on his vision for a reimagined MK film." The director in question was Kevin Tancharoen (the 2009 remake of Fame), who has gotten his wish--sort of.

Today, Warner Bros. announced that its Warner Premiere digital production label will be making a series of shorts based on Mortal Kombat: Rebirth starting next month. Directed by Tancharoen, the series will "take gamers deep into the history of warriors they know and love such as Scorpion, Johnny Cage, and Liu Kang." It begins filming in Vancouver in February and will be distributed via "online digital retailers" in the spring.

As for casting, Warner Bros. said that "additional details would be revealed in the coming weeks." However, an unconfirmed report on horror-film blog Bloody Disgusting says White will reprise his role as Briggs in the series.

The next game in the Mortal Kombat series, simply titled Mortal Kombat, is due out on April 19 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.