While Lee Cronin’s The Mummy did its own thing for the property with a more extreme approach, fans of 1999’s The Mummy and its sequel, The Mummy Returns, will still have a fourth entry in the adventure franchise to look forward to. A final installment is due out with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz coming back to reprise their roles.
For Fraser, this means getting back into action hero shape. The star made a huge comeback playing an obese man in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. While assisted by a body suit and prosthetics, Fraser was still quite a ways from the Rick O’Connell physicality. According to Variety, the actor recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and he revealed that they are planning on returning to familiar locations for the production and even addressed training for the movie. Fraser humbly joked to the audience,
Please wish me luck. I’m doing my best to get this 57-year-old gear in shape.”sponsored content
It stands to reason that Fraser will probably do less of his own stunts this time around, as the strenuous physical demands of the original trilogy did a number on his body. The damage from the franchise and other roles led to a partial knee replacement, a laminectomy (back surgery), and vocal cord repair, requiring roughly seven years of intermittent hospital stays.
Ready or Not 2 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to helm The Mummy 4, with production slated to start this fall in London and Morocco. It’s still too early to reveal any real details on The Mummy 4, but the pair have teased that the sequel will be “really, really beautiful and scary and sweeping, and it’s awesome.” Bettinelli-Olpin added that he doesn’t think “Brendan and Rachel are getting involved unless they love that script, and what they read, I think they really liked. And it’s a good script. It’s gonna be fun to make.“
It was recently reported that the core three protagonists from the originals will be completed as John Hannah will return with both Fraser and Weisz. The success of The Mummy prompted a sequel, The Mummy Returns, but it would be almost eight years until the gang returned for a third outing. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor wasn’t nearly as well-received as the first two, especially as Maria Bello replaced Weisz as Evelyn. When asked if they consider it canon to their movie, Bettinelli-Olpin said, “Well, Rachel is in this one. That should answer the question for you.”
The sequel is currently slated for a May 19, 2028 release.