The Mummy 4 is set to revive Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy franchise, with Brendan Fraser returning for the series’ first sequel since 2008. Although the first film was a massive hit, the series ended after the release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was a commercial and critical disappointment.
However, Fraser’s resurgance in Hollywood with projects like The Whale and Pressure has led to the announcement of The Mummy 4, which will see him reprise his role as adventurer Rick O’Connell. Ready or Not‘s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will direct, and Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and more are set to reprise their roles in the sequel. While this is major news for The Mummy fans, many general audience members don’t know that there is much more to The Mummy franchise than Fraser’s movies, which is why this spinoff needs to make its return in the coming years.
2001’s The Mummy Returns introduced one of the franchise’s most iconic characters: The Scorpion King. Played by Dwayne Johnson in one of his first major film roles, The Scorpion King is an ancient warrior who sold his soul to Anubis in order to defeat his enemies. He turns up as a massive, CGI scorpion monster near the end of the film, only to be killed by Rick as they make their escape.
The Scorpion King was so memorable that he got his own spinoff series, and it wound up lasting longer than The Mummy did. The first film was released in 2002, with The Scorpion King seeing Johnson reprise his role as the titular warrior. Set over 5,000 years before the events of The Mummy, the film follows Mathayus (the human name of the King) as he rises to power and plays a major role in the war for the desert. The film made $178.8 million against a budget of $60 million, and while it wasn’t a critical success, its commercial performance warranted four direct-to-video sequels: 2008’s The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, 2012’s The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, 2015’s The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power, and 2018’s The Scorpion King: Book of Souls.
None of these sequels were particularly successful, or even good, but they continued the spinoff series long after The Mummy movies ended. So, now that The Mummy is back for a fourth film, it only makes sense that The Scorpion King should return too. Rather than being the sixth film in the series, it should act as a soft reboot of the movies, only relying on the first film and The Mummy 2. Even if tons of people haven’t seen The Scorpion King, it is a notable franchise that many have heard of. So, The Mummy 4 could drum up interest in future projects, with a new The Scorpion King movie capitalizing on the sequel’s success.
Luckily, this may actually be happening. In November 2020, a The Scorpion King reboot was announced to be in development, with it being written by Straight Outta Compton‘s Jonathan Herman. Dwayne Johnson is returning to produce the film, although it wasn’t announced whether he would reprise his role as Mathayus. The reboot would have been weird, with it being set in modern times (via Deadline). However, nothing has been said about the project since, leaving it in flux. Plans for The Mummy 4 could have derailed this reboot, and that may be a good thing. A proper reboot set before The Mummy would probably work better than this odd sequel, and hopefully one can finally happen after The Mummy 4.
If a reboot of The Scorpion King happens, it needs to be a proper reboot, meaning that Dwayne Johnson probably shouldn’t return. Four different actors played the title role across the series’ five movies, meaning that it wouldn’t be a wild choice to recast Mathayus. Bringing Johnson or any of the previous Mathayus actors back would chain the reboot to the many failed direct-to-video sequels, which may push new audience members away from seeing the film.
While Johnson is a major actor who would bring eyes to a potential The Scorpion King reboot, this is another reason why he should stay away. It is well known that Johnson has tons of creative control over many of the projects he’s in, and with the release of movies like Black Adam, Red One, and the live-action Moana remake, he has far from a perfect filmography. Recasting him and using a younger, lesser-known actor would allow The Scorpion King to focus on being a proper prequel and reboot without having to worry about being a vehicle for one of the world’s biggest actors.
