Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directors of the upcoming Mummy film, have explained what convinced Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz to reprise their roles in the series.
Brendan Fraser is returning to his iconic role as Rick O’Connell in a new sequel. This comes after a remarkable career resurgence, including his Oscar win for The Whale, a significant part in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and a praised performance in the upcoming film Rental Family.
He’ll be joined by Weisz, who recently appeared in the Prime Video series Dead Ringers and the Marvel film Black Widow. She’s returning to play her character, Evelyn Carnahan.
Directors Tyler Gillett and Daniel Bettinelli-Olpin, who together form the Radio Silence team, recently told Entertainment Weekly how a potential new ‘Mummy’ movie started brewing. They were working on the film ‘Abigail’ (2024) with producer William Sherrick when the conversation turned to revisiting ‘The Mummy’.
Gillett explained that William is always thinking several steps ahead. While Matt and he were focused on completing their current tasks – setting up eight different shots – William was already planning the next big move. He suggested they try to get a shot of the mummy, which Gillett and Matt immediately thought was a wildly ambitious, and probably impossible, idea.
However, that prediction didn’t take long to be disproven. As Gillett explained, they quickly moved forward, completing work on ‘Abigail’ and then meeting with the writer, Dave Coggeshall, to begin developing a new pitch.
As someone who’s been following the film industry for years, I’ve learned not to get too excited about projects until they’re actually happening. There’s so much talk and speculation, and it’s fantastic to champion promising ideas, but I’ve also learned to keep my expectations in check. It’s just… heartbreaking when something you’re really rooting for falls apart, so you build up a bit of a protective wall.
Bettinelli-Olpin hinted that Coggeshall’s script is full of warmth and well-developed characters.
Gillett believes Brendan and Rachel will only agree to participate if they genuinely love the script, and early indications suggest they do. He also thinks the script is strong and the project will be enjoyable to work on.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz first played their characters in the 1999 film The Mummy, and then returned for the 2001 sequel, The Mummy Returns. However, Weisz didn’t appear in the third film, 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and was replaced by Maria Bello as Evelyn.
Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet have stated that the fourth Mummy film will not consider ‘Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ and its cast to be part of the official storyline.
When asked if they consider the film canon to their new movie, Olpin said: “Well, Rachel is in this one.”
“That should answer the question for you,” Gillett added.
The Mummy 4 is set to be released in cinemas on 19th May 2028.
You can now watch the first three The Mummy movies on Sky Movies and NOW.
Authors
Molly Moss writes about the newest trends in television, movies, and other entertainment for TopMob. She has a master’s degree in journalism and has also contributed to major publications like The Guardian, The Times, and The Sun Online.
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2026-03-03 15:34