The Mummy: Book of the Dead will finally bring Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan back to the big screen, reuniting Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz for the first time since 2001's The Mummy Returns.
They aren't the only returning original cast members, as John Hannah, Oded Fehr, and Arnold Vosloo will join them. During a recent interview with Jack Carr (via SFFGazette.com), the latter opened up about reprising his role as the villainous Imhotep.
At the same time, Vosloo inadvertently dropped a fairly significant spoiler by revealing the importance of the "Book of the Dead" subtitle.
"I can report now; I just signed my deal. We are doing another Mummy," the actor said. "Brendan and they are shooting now in London. And the character Imhotep is back, that I play. I’ll be going there in November."
"The first time I’ve admitted... I’m back in the next Mummy. Imhotep is back," he added. "Somebody wakes me up. They read from the Book of the Dead, and there we are."
Vosloo's Imhotep was the main antagonist in 1999's The Mummy, portrayed as a high priest from Thebes, Egypt, in 1290 BC. He was cursed and buried alive alongside flesh-eating scarabs after murdering Pharaoh Seti I with the help of the ruler’s mistress, Anck-su-namun, with whom he was having an affair.
Anck-su-namun was killed shortly before Imhotep was mummified, but when he was awakened in 1926, he and his followers set out to resurrect her.
While Imhotep was killed in The Mummy, he was resurrected in The Mummy Returns, which was set in 1933. A cult whose members included Meela Nais, the reincarnation of Anck-su-namun, brought him back with the intention of harnessing his powers to defeat Dwayne Johnson's Scorpion King. That plan also failed, with Imhotep last seen willingly descending into the underworld after Anck-su-namun abandoned him.
Interestingly, Vosloo went on to confirm, "The script’s very good. I’m excited. They’re gonna make me look like I did when I was 38 years old, when I made the first one."
The fact that he's being de-aged suggests Imhotep will return to pick up right where he left off. Whether he'll be the movie's main antagonist has yet to be revealed, but as he's restored by the titular Book of the Dead, it seems likely that Imhotep will be front and centre in this story.
Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor, Michael Johnston, and Numan Acar, The Mummy: Book of the Dead is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, aka Radio Silence.
David Coggeshall (The Family Plan, Orphan: First Kill) wrote the screenplay for this next instalment of the franchise, with Sean Daniel returning as a producer. William Sherak, James Vanderbilt and Paul Neinstein will produce through Project X Entertainment, and they're frequent collaborators with the movie's directors Radio Silence.
The Mummy: Book of the Dead arrives in theaters on October 15, 2027.