OG 'The Mummy' star tapped to return alongside Rachel Weisz for latest installment
The OG's of 'The Mummy' family are reuniting for the latest installment of the iconic horror franchise. Universal Pictures has now tapped John Hannah, one of the original cast members alongside Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. The movie will be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of the 'Scream' franchise fame. The script was penned by 'Orphan: The First Kill's David Coggeshall.
Hannah played the brother of the librarian in the original movies, who plays a major role in each of the adventures, actively a character who finds, makes, and loses the spoils even as the gang fends off threats. He appeared in all three films with Frazer. In the sequel, he joins Rick and Evelyn (Fraser and Weisz) as they make a desperate attempt to save their son from a resurrected Imhotep before he can bring the ancient Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson). In the third film, he is seen to have opened a nightclub in Shanghai, but once again finds himself pulled back to the world of the living dead. Hannah is best known for his rom-com, 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. He later starred in hit flicks, 'Sliding Doors', 'The Hurricane', and TV series, 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand'. and the Italian series, 'Sandokan.'
Per THR, 'The Mummy' is set to release on May 19, 2028, with shooting set to start this fall in Morocco and London. In what was a surprise treat for the franchise faithful, Universal had a special screening of the 2001 film 'The Mummy Returns' in the country to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary. At the time of writing, there is no word on what the storyline would be, and the original's producer, Sean Daniels, returns to the role. Alongside him are William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, and Paul Neinstein.
The synopsis of the first movie reads: "The Mummy is a rousing, suspenseful, and horrifying epic about an expedition of treasure-seeking explorers in the Sahara Desert in 1925. Stumbling upon an ancient tomb, the hunters unwittingly set loose a 3,000-year-old legacy of terror, which is embodied in the vengeful reincarnation of an Egyptian priest who had been sentenced to an eternity as one of the living dead."