Source: Reuters

Brendan Fraser has a few things to wrap up with The Mummy 4.

During an interview with the Associated Press, the Whale actor confirmed that he’ll return for a fourth fantasy-adventure movie in the franchise that solidified him as an action star — and indicated that this is the Mummy installment that he’s always been working toward.

“The one I wanted to make was never made,” Fraser told the outlet, explaining how the franchise took a detour with 2008’s Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. “The third one was a model of … how can I say this to the AP reporter? NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year. So they put two together and we went to China.”

The threequel saw Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) take over directorial reins from Stephen Sommers, who helmed the first two installments in the series, and also enlisted Maria Bello to portray Evelyn “Evy” Carnahan after Rachel Weisz played her in the first two movies. While the first two films took place in Egypt, the third moved the action to China — which Fraser maintains was a lovely working environment.

“Working in Shanghai, an incredible experience,” the Oscar winner said. “I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie. We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot.”

However, he reiterated that Tomb of the Dragon Emperor did not continue the franchise in the way that he had envisioned. “The one I wanted to make is forthcoming,” he said. “And I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.”

Earlier this month, Entertainment Weekly reported that Fraser and Weisz were looking to return to the franchise for a fourth installment. The film will be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the filmmaking duo also known as Radio Silence, who previously helmed 2019’s Ready or Not and the most recent two Scream installments. The film will be written by David Coggeshall, who penned scripts for the Predator prequel Prey and The Deliverance.

Fraser’s Mummy journey began with Sommers’ 1999 revival of the Universal horror franchise, which added a swashbuckling action-adventure spirit that the original 1930s and ’40s installments lacked. Fraser, Weisz, and Sommers quickly reteamed for the 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, which featured Dwayne Johnson in his first film role. Johnson went on to headline the 2002 theatrical spinoff The Scorpion King, which in turn launched a series of direct-to-video sequels starring other actors as the titular warrior.

After Tomb of the Dragon Emperor premiered to scathing reviews in 2008, Universal opted to reboot The Mummy nine years later with Tom Cruise in the lead role and Sofia Boutella as the undead antagonist. The film, which also starred Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll, was intended to launch Universal’s Dark Universe, which would have unified new iterations of the studio’s classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster in a Marvel-esque shared universe. The studio ultimately abandoned those plans for undisclosed reasons.

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