Brendan Fraser Just Dropped Huge ‘The Mummy’ News

Some franchises never really die, they just wait for the right team to dig them back up. Universal’s turn-of-the-century adventure series about a cursed Egyptian priest and the treasure hunters unlucky enough to wake him has spent years as one of Hollywood’s most requested revivals, with fans clamoring for a proper follow-up long after the franchise went quiet.

That wait appears to finally be ending. The long-gestating fourth ‘Mummy’ film has moved from rumor to reality, with its cast, creative team, and mythology slowly coming into focus over the past several months.

Now, according to Brendan Fraser, production on the new movie is set to begin imminently, with the actor confirming the shoot alongside a cast that includes Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O’Connor, Oded Fehr, and Michael Johnston. The update lines up with earlier reporting from JoBlo, which indicated filming was slated to begin this fall across locations in London and Morocco.

Fraser and Weisz are both reprising their original roles as adventurer Rick O’Connell and Egyptologist Evelyn O’Connell, marking a full-circle moment for the franchise that first launched in 1999. Weisz’s return carries particular weight since she sat out 2008’s ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’, meaning this new film effectively picks up as a direct continuation of the beloved original duology.

John Hannah is also back as Evelyn’s brother Jonathan, joined by returning franchise veterans Kevin J. O’Connor as Beni and Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, according to Dread Central. Rounding out the new additions is Numan Acar, along with Michael Johnston, the breakout star of the horror hit ‘Obsession’, who has been widely speculated to be playing Alex, the grown son of Rick and Evelyn.

Directing duties fall to Radio Silence, the filmmaking team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, best known for reviving the ‘Scream’ franchise and helming ‘Ready or Not’. Working from a screenplay by David Coggeshall, the pair has been intentionally vague about plot specifics while still hyping up the film’s tone.

Gillett described the project as “really beautiful and scary and sweeping” during comments reported by Outlook India, while Bettinelli-Olpin added that Fraser and Weisz wouldn’t have signed on unless they genuinely loved the script. Fraser himself has echoed that sentiment publicly, telling Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that “we’re gonna get the band back together, the only way to do it right,” while admitting he’s working to get back into fighting shape for the role, joking that he’s “doing my best to get this fifty-seven-year-old gear in shape.”

The new film will reportedly disregard the events of ‘Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’, essentially treating ‘The Mummy Returns’ as the last chapter before this installment picks up the story. Sean Daniel, who has produced every ‘Mummy’ film since the franchise began, is returning once again, alongside producers William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, and Paul Neinstein through Project X Entertainment.

The original ‘Mummy’ grossed over $422.5 million globally back in 1999, helping turn Fraser into a bona fide action star and launching a franchise that has since brought in a combined $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office. With production now underway, fans are hoping this next chapter can recapture the swashbuckling charm that made the first two films instant classics.

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