Street Fighter director Kitao Sakurai has taken to Instagram to share some official behind-the-scenes images of most of the main cast (Jason Momoa is not present, and Roman Reigns obviously hasn't arrived yet following his hospitalization angle beat-down at WWE Clash in Paris on Sunday night).
Though the actors are not in-costume as their respective characters here, the photos appear to reveal that Reacher season 3 star Olivier Richters is playing Russian pro-wrestler Zangief (based on his appearance, we're not sure who else he could be playing).
There's also a possibility - though we're not quite as confident about this one - that Mortal Kombat (2021) actress Mel Jarnson has been cast as Cammy White.
There was speculation that Jarnson might be playing Cammy when she was spotted alongside Orville Peck (Vega) in previous photos, and she is now rocking a very similar blonde hairstyle to the British Intelligence agent.
Street Fighter also stars Callina Liang as Chun-Li, Cody Rhodes as Guile, and Andrew Koji as Ryu. Momoa and Reigns (real name Leati Joseph Anoaʻi) are on board in key roles as the villainous Akuma, the man who killed Ryu and Ken's trainer and his own older brother Gouken, and green-skinned fan-favorite, Blanka, respectively.
Though numerous characters have been introduced over the years, Ryu and his best friend/rival Ken Masters have remained at the forefront of the Street Fighter video game franchise. Both fighters have very similar move sets, including the Dragon Punch and "Hadoken" fireball.
Capcom's Street Fighter series remains one of the most popular fighting games franchises of all time, but hasn't fared very well with live-action adaptations up until now. The 1994 movie starring Van Damme and Kylie Minogue has amassed a cult following over the years, but is still widely regarded as a misfire, and the less said about 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li the better!
We know next to nothing about this latest take on the property, so it's impossible to say whether it will break the trend - although it's fair to say that some of the casting choices have not inspired confidence in the fanbase.
Sakurai, who stepped in to replace original helmers Danny and Michael Philippou, is probably best known for writing, directing and exec producing The Eric Andre Show, and has also directed the pilot and several episodes of the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Butterfly, as well as episodes of Peacock’s video game adaptation Twisted Metal.