‘The Mummy 4’: Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz to Reunite For New Installment!!

The Mummy is rising from its tomb. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are in talks to return as Rick and Evelyn O’Connell in a new continuation of the cult-hit action-adventure-horror franchise. Horror mavens Radio Silence, alias Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, are set to direct.

According to reports, the film will act as a direct sequel to the first two films of the series, and disregard the third, which recast Weisz‘ role with Maria Bello. The film is set to be written by David Coggeshall (Orphan: First Kill). Radio Silence have carved out a horror niche for themselves in recent years. They broke out with the horror hit Ready or Not in 2019, and were given the reins to the then-dormant Scream franchise. The duo directed 2022’s Scream and its 2023 sequel, Scream VI, both of which were solid hits, and are now working on a Ready or Not sequel, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which is due in the spring. The Mummy won’t be their first crack at a Universal Horror movie; the team directed 2023’s Abigail, a modern reimagining of the 1936 classic Dracula’s Daughter.

What Happens in ‘The Mummy’ Franchise?

In 1999’s The Mummy, which was written and directed by Stephen Sommers and loosely based on Universal’s Mummy films of the 1930s and 1940s, Fraser stars as Rick O’Connell, a treasure hunter and mercenary who’s hired by mild-mannered librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz) and her louche brother Jonathan (John Hannah) to help them find Hamunaptra, a lost Egyptian necropolis. They inadvertently unleash the undead Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). Together with Ardeth Bey (Oded Fehr), a member of an ancient order determined to prevent Imhotep’s rebirth, they must stop him before he can unleash a plague of death across the world. In 2001’s The Mummy Returns, the now-married Rick and Evelyn must face off against a resurrected Imhotep and his reincarnated lover (Patricia Velásquez) before they can sacrifice Rick and Evelyn’s son and summon the mystical Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson, in his first movie role). A second sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, pitted Rick and Evelyn (Bello) against an evil Chinese warlock (Jet Li). The franchise also spun off Johnson‘s Scorpion King into his own epoynmous film, which served as a prequel to the series.

Universal attempted to reboot The Mummy as a cornerstone of their Dark Universe shared cinematic universe: the film, which starred Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and Sofia Boutella as the titular mummy, was cursed by critics and audiences upon its release in 2017, and spelled doom for the Dark Universe. At last report, Evil Dead Rise‘s Lee Cronin was working on a new Mummy project; it is unclear what will become of it in the wake of this news.