Rachel Weisz is back on The Mummy set 27 years later — Universal stopped trying to replace her
Set photos have reunited Evelyn and Rick O'Connell for the first time since 2001. Universal tried continuing The Mummy without Weisz twice, and both versions were the franchise's last for years.
Rachel Weisz is filming The Mummy again. She was spotted shooting near the British Museum in September, the first set photos of her and Brendan Fraser together landed on October 14, and this week fans were passing around footage of her blowing kisses at the crowd from the set.
The still-untitled film is a direct sequel to The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), skipping everything after. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence (Ready or Not) direct from a David Coggeshall script, Sean Daniel — producer of every installment since 1999 — produces, and the release date is October 15, 2027.
Two attempts to go around her
Weisz declined to return for 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Universal's answer that time was a recast: Maria Bello played Evelyn. The film grossed $403 million worldwide, the planned follow-up never materialized, and the series went quiet for nine years.
The second answer was bigger. In 2017 Universal relaunched The Mummy around Tom Cruise as the opening film of its monster-franchise Dark Universe — the one announced with that group photo of Cruise, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem and Russell Crowe. The reboot grossed about $410 million against enormous costs, Bride of Frankenstein fell off the schedule within months, and the Dark Universe ended at one movie.
Universal recast Evelyn in 2008 and rebooted the franchise around Tom Cruise in 2017. The new film instead closed deals with five actors from 1999.
Fraser, whose casting was reported first, had diagnosed the 2017 film years before Universal called him back: "The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn't see in that film, was fun," he told Variety in 2022. The new movie is betting on his prescription — along with Weisz, the cast brings back John Hannah as Jonathan, Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep, Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay and Kevin J. O'Connor as Beni.
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What the calendar says about Universal's confidence
In April 2026, Universal moved the film up from May 2028 to October 15, 2027 — and handed its vacated May 19, 2028 slot to Miami Vice '85. Studios push troubled projects back; pulling a tentpole seven months forward is the move reserved for films the studio wants in theaters sooner than planned.
The original film this one continues opened in May 1999, grossed $416 million, and launched both a $1.8 billion franchise and Fraser as an action star. Twenty-seven years later, Fraser is an Oscar winner, Weisz has been one since 2006 — and the reunion scene in the set photos ends, per the photographers, with the two of them laughing between takes.
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