Brendan Fraser’s career woke from its long slumber with his Oscar-winning turn in 2022’s The Whale. Now, his best-known franchise follows closely behind. After 17 years of dormancy, The Mummy will officially return courtesy of Ready Or Not and Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (aka Radio Silence). The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which has another, arguably even more thrilling update. Original stars Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reportedly in talks to return for the sequel, reprising the roles they originated in 1999. That’s not quite as long as Imhotep waited for his own resurrection, but it’s exciting nonetheless.
The original Mummy film, which followed a treasure hunter (Fraser) and librarian (Weisz) who accidentally awaken the titular mummy, became a phenomenon for Universal. It grossed $422.5 million at the box office and ended up spawning two direct sequels, The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008), as well as a handful of spin-offs (including a pretty awful 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise) and even a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. Original producer Sean Daniel is set to return for the sequel, as well as frequent Radio Silence collaborator Project X (Abigail, Scream 5 and 6).
As evidenced by Fraser and Weisz’s potential involvement, the new film has been described as a sequel to the franchise (one that would likely disregard the events of the third film, which did not feature Weisz) rather than a reboot. It’s unclear as of this writing whether any other original cast members are in talks to return. The new script was penned by The Deliverance and Orphan: First Kill writer David Coggeshall. For now, the studio is keeping the rest of the film’s details wrapped up tight.
