Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are all set to appear in the Mummy franchise's fourth instalment

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are confirmed to return for a fourth installment of The Mummy franchise, as per The Hollywood Reporter. The sequel will follow on from the 1999 reboot and the sequel The Mummy Returns. This new film will be directed by Matt Bettinelli Olpin and Tyler Gillett who together are known as the Radio Silence filmmakers. The screenplay has been written by David Coggeshall, with franchise producer Sean Daniel reunited for the project as well.

Universal Pictures has declined to comment at the moment. The studio did not comment on whether a release date was expected but indicated the film is a sequel, not a reboot. It is likely the new film will ignore 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in which Maria Bello took over the role from Weisz.

The franchise traces back to Universal's black and white horror classic starring Boris Karloff as the vengeful Imhotep. Fraser's Rick teams with Weisz's Evy and her bumbling brother Jonathan played by John Hannah battle the resurrected priest Imhotep, played with brooding intensity by Arnold Vosloo. Their romance blooms amid scarab swarms and sand swept chases through Hamunaptra- the City of the Dead. 

Fraser, reflecting on it in a 2022 Variety interview during The Whale press, said-

“It is hard to make that movie. The ingredient that we had going for our ‘Mummy,’ which I didn’t see in the new one, was fun. That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. ‘The Mummy’ should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.”

'The Mummy' sequel arrives at a time when horror comedies are being revived

The Mummy films made Fraser a '90s heartthrob, dodging CGI apes in George of the Jungle and spelunking in Journey to the Center of the Earth. But post-2008, back pain from stunts, a 2018 divorce, and his public claim of a 2003 sexual assault by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk led to years in the wilderness before he came back with a bang with his Oscar-winning role in The Whale. Fraser spoke openly in a 2018 GQ profile about the toll:

"The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why."

The Mummy sequel could explore Rick and Evy aged but undaunted, perhaps facing a new curse with grown son Alex in tow echoing fan theories though unconfirmed.

Timing couldn't be sharper for a legacy revival. Horror comedies like "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" proved audiences crave fun scares and Mummy's mix fits perfectly. Yet competition looms as Lee Cronin's The Mummy reboot produced by Blumhouse and New Line wrapped filming and eyes an April 2026 release. 

Cronin teased to Collider,

"I'm digging deep into the earth to raise something very ancient and very frightening"

Radio Silence, known for Ready or Not's bloody wit and Scream' s meta-jabs, promises to honor Sommers' blueprint while modernizing. No plot leaks yet, but Daniel's involvement hints at callbacks to Imhotep's lore or Medjai lore, avoiding the third film's pitfalls.

Sommers himself, who directed the first two and produced the third, voiced frustration over the Cruise version in a 2017 Hollywood Reporter chat:

"I was kind of insulted... No one ever contacted me."

This new iteration might mend fences. For Fraser, it's poetic closure; he told Variety in 2022 he'd revisit Rick if it felt right. With negotiations advancing, expect casting calls for returning faces like Hannah or Fehr. 

With Fraser’s comeback and Weisz’s support, the sequel targets $500 million. 

Trailers may arrive mid-2026. Stream originals on Peacock (US) or rent on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes. The 4K trilogy box set is available for collectors.

Stay tuned for more such updates!