Brendan Fraser has confirmed he is looking to reprise the role of Rick O’Connell in a fourth installment of The Mummy franchise, as rumors over a potential new sequel continue to swirl online.
Having seen his career hit the skids in the years following the 2008 release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was the third installment in the franchise, Fraser is back on an upward trajectory following his Best Actor Oscar win for Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale.
That award has helped catapult Fraser back onto the A-list, with the much-loved star landing a major role in Martin Scorsese’s most recent film, Killers of the Flower Moon.
Throughout much of that time, however, Fraser has never shied away from returning to the role that cemented his star status: all-American action adventurer Rick O’Connell.
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Although Fraser had already enjoyed some moderate success with movies like Encino Man and George of the Jungle, The Mummy was the movie that saw him make the step up to major blockbuster star.
Fraser returned as O’Connell in two further outings, The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and while his original co-star Rachel Weisz ultimately opted out of the latter of these two movies, citing unhappiness with the script and the fact she had only just recently given birth to a baby boy.
Fraser remained onboard while Maria Bello was drafted in to take over the role of Evelyn from Weisz, adopting a clunky English accent as part of her take on the role.
In fact, at the time, there were plans for a whole new trilogy of films that would have likely featured O’Connell. In an interview with MTV prior to the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Bello revealed she was signed up for a further trilogy of sequels.
“I don’t know when, but it’s going,” she said. “[There will] absolutely be ‘The Mummy 4.’ “
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Ultimately, despite being a sizable success at the box office with earnings of over $400 million, the third film in the franchise garnered lukewarm reviews with many critical of the attempts at shoe-horning in a more Asia-centric plot to try and drum up interest in China, with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh cast. By 2012, Universal Pictures had put a halt to plans for a further follow-up, deciding instead to focus on a reboot.
By the time The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, arrived in cinemas in 2017, it was clear someone, somewhere had made a mistake, with the film drawing rank reviews and disappointing box office receipts. For many, the absence of Fraser et. al and the more humorous tone of the original trilogy was what was lacking from this latest effort.
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Since then things have gone full circle, with Fraser’s newfound popularity igniting fresh talk of another sequel. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Fraser spoke openly about what he felt Cruise’s incarnation of The Mummy lacked when put up against his own.
“The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in that film, was fun,” he said. “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.”
He also opened the door to a return, saying: “I don’t know how it would work. But I’d be open to it if someone came up with the right conceit.”
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Fraser went on to double-down on his desire to return as O’Connell in an interview with Deadline where he found himself once again quizzed about reprising the role. “It’s kind of an open-ended question for some time now. I’m not opposed to it, I don’t know an actor who doesn’t want a job,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve been this famous and unsalaried at the same time in my professional life so sign me up!”
Fraser’s comments had a ripple effect with Stephen Sommers, who wrote and directed the first two movies in the franchise, also expressing an interest in returning, albeit in the right circumstances.
“All the people at Universal are new after I left. I don’t really know them, and they haven’t got a hold of me, so I don’t know what’s in their heads,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “At the same time, it would have to be something really special. Of course, I would work with all of those actors again.”
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The rumor mill went into overdrive in May 2024 when Daniel Richtman, a film journalist for the website World of Reel, claimed both Fraser and Weisz were onboard for a fresh installment in the franchise. While nothing has been announced yet, what’s telling is that there has been little in the way of denials from any of the parties involved.
Quite what form a fourth film would take is unclear. At one point, there had been talk of a sequel titled The Mummy: Rise of the Aztec, with online rumors suggesting O’Connell and the gang would be going up against a revived Aztec emperor played by Antonio Banderas. How close that film came to fruition is unclear, but the premise does sound intriguing, even if it does steer things further away from the original movie’s Egyptian origins by setting proceedings in South America.
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With no word yet on what this latest attempt at a fourth film might looklike, the internet has, rather predictably, gotten creative.
A poster emerged online claiming a new sequel to The Mummy, titled “The Mummy: Fountain of the Persian Knights” would be arriving in cinemas in 2025.
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Whoever was behind the post also included a blurb which sold many fans on the idea. It read: “Three years after their son went missing and presumed lost on a perilous quest for the legendary fountain, a glimmer of hope emerges. Rick discovers that their son may be alive, held captive by malevolent forces.”
There’s nothing to suggest the social media post represents an official outline of what shape the new film might take but, after over a decade of radio silence on the matter, it would appear there is fresh appetite for a new sequel to The Mummy and, crucially, Fraser is eager to provide it.
