'The Mummy 4' Directors Confirm the Franchise's Worst Movie Isn't Canon

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Published Mar 4, 2026, 5:53 PM EST

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are returning to the sands of Egypt for a new installment of The Mummy. After first being paired up in the 1999 original, they returned in 2001 for The Mummy Returns...but only one of them came back for the third film, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which replaced Weisz with Maria Bello. With a new sequel in the works, there have been questions regarding that movie's canonicity. Now, thanks to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directorial duo known as Radio Silence, we have an answer.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the duo make it clear that the events of Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will not be taken into account with the new film. Says Bettinelli-Olpin when asked about it, "Well, Rachel is in this one." Says Gillett, "That should answer the question for you." In addition to the recasting, that film was also the only one of the three to be set outside of Egypt, and did not feature appearances from franchise mainstays Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) or Ardeth Bey (Oded Fehr). So far, any other details of the new film are being kept under wraps, but it will reunite soldier-of-fortune Rick O'Connell (Fraser) and librarian-turned-adventurer Evy Carnahan, who had married and had a son by The Mummy Returns. It will be released on May 19, 2028.

What Is 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' About?

Taking place in 1946 (thirteen years after The Mummy Returns and twenty years after The Mummy, despite only seven years separating the films), Tomb of the Dragon Emperor sees Rick, Evy, and their son Alex (Luke Ford) locate the titular location, the final resting place of the ancient warlord Qin Shi Huang (Jet Li). The revived Emperor soon joins forces with a rogue Chinese general and sets his sights on world domination, sending the O'Connells, plus Evy's brother Jonathan (John Hannah) and the mysterious Lin (Isabella Leong) on the road to Shangri-La, where an immortal sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) dwells. Along the way, they're confronted with terra-cotta warriors, monstrous yetis, and the undead Emperor himself.

Unlike the previous two installments of the franchise, which were helmed by Stephen Sommers, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was directed by Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious), from a script by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough. It grossed over $400 million USD at the box office, making it the lowest-grossing of the trilogy; it was also the worst-reviewed film of the series, earning a lowly 13% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Mummy 4 will be released in theaters on May 19, 2028. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.