The Mummy 4 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are "humbled" and "grateful" that both Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are onboard for the next instalment.
Fraser and Weisz, who played treasure hunter Rick and librarian Evelyn, have agreed to reprise their roles for another outing, which comes more than 20 years after their joint adventures in 1999's The Mummy and 2001's The Mummy Returns.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, the directing duo known for horror movies like 2022's Scream, Ready or Not and Abigail, admitted to Entertainment Weekly that they never thought their "dream project" would actually happen.
"We have been in this line of work long enough to know that nothing is real until it's very, very real," Gillett explained. "It's all speculative, and it feels great to give energy to really wonderful ideas, but we have learned to keep those opportunities a little bit at arm's distance because it's just easy to have your heart broken."
He continued, "It's not lost on us that we are inheriting now another truly wonderful franchise. We just are so humbled and so grateful to get to continue on."
As for how they got both Fraser and Weisz back in the fold, Bettinelli-Olpin said, "I don't think Brendan and Rachel are getting involved unless they love that script, and what they read, I think they really liked. And it's a good script. It's gonna be fun to make."
Gillett described Dave Coggeshall's script as "beautiful and scary and sweeping" and Bettinelli-Olpin added that it "had all of the heart and the character that you could hope for".
After The Mummy Returns, Fraser returned for another instalment, 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, with Maria Bello replacing Weisz as Evelyn.
Addressing whether they see that chapter as part of the franchise, Bettinelli-Olpin replied, "Well, Rachel is in this one," and Gillett quipped, "That should answer the question for you."
A separate Mummy film, based on Universal's original monster movies, is also on the way. Lee Cronin's The Mummy, a supernatural horror, will be released in cinemas on 17 April.
