Brendan Fraser’s Best Movie Becoming A TV Show
Brendan Fraser could return to the role that made him a star.
This article is more than 2 years old
Brendan Fraser, who came into prominence with classic hits such as Encino Man, School Ties, and Airheads (maybe this one isn’t so classic or even a hit), could be bringing back another classic hit in an unexpected form. What great news to get right before Halloween. Oh please say this is true!
Insider Daniel Richtman (via We Got This Covered) is reporting that Universal is looking at restarting the Mummy franchise once again. It would include a feature film and a television series, and the television series would bring back Brendan Fraser. It’s worth assuming that this means he would be returning as his character from his original run of Mummy movies.
For Brendan Fraser, his turn as adventurer Rick O’Connell in his Mummy trilogy, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was not only a highlight of his career but a role that he is probably best known for. Of course, George from George of the Jungle runs a close second. We kid, though the movie did tickle the funny bone.
But the last time we saw Brendan Fraser as O’Connell was over a dozen years ago with the Dragon Emperor and that movie didn’t hit as many high notes as his previous two Mummy films. But as Hollywood is known to do, they will beat a dead horse until it’s doubly dead and then try to resurrect it claiming they never meant to kill the dead horse. Thankfully, in this case, the original Mummy and its sequels were fun. And Fraser was fun in his role.
Imagine the surprise (you can count Giant Freakin Robot as being one of the surprised) to hear the rumor that Universal was looking to once again get its Mummy franchise again rolling after the fiasco that was the Tom Cruise reboot. Not that the movie was utterly terrible, it just didn’t do for Universal as they had hoped. Shortly after the box-office bombing of The Mummy, plans were scrapped to continue Universal’s Dark Universe idea, which was to bring all their classic movie monsters back and tie them all into one big story.
But the surprise didn’t include Brendan Fraser. It came more along the lines of a new movie, that would follow in the footsteps of the very successful Elizabeth Moss-led The Invisible Man. And while those plans are still in place, Universal is looking at another Mummy project, this one does include Fraser and the plan is to bring it to the small screen. As in a series.
A return to Rick O’Connell, even on the small screen, would be a most welcome sight. Brendan Fraser had stepped away from Hollywood for a few years (stepped away or couldn’t get work) but has recently made a nice little comeback with roles on TV in Texas Rising, The Affair, Trust, Condor, Professionals, and of course, Doom Patrol. He has also seen some action on the feature film front starring in The Poison Rose, Line of Descent, and The Secret of Karma. With his star beginning to slowly rise again, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Fraser would agree to a Mummy series. That is the word out of Hollywood.
What would the series look like? When we last saw our hero, he was still married to Evy (though in the third movie Rachel Weisz was replaced with Maria Bello) and the duo mummy-killers had to travel to the far east to rescue their son from the clutches of the First Emperor of Qin. So, questions arise.
Would the story focus more on Brendan Fraser’s son, only bringing Fraser back in a recurring role? Would Evy be involved and, if so, who would play her (don’t count on Weisz to reprise her Evy)? Or would the producers cash in on a Fraser return to prominence by making the series focus on the further exploits of his Rick O’Connell character? Would these two presumed Mummy projects even be linked?
There are so many unanswered questions, but we look forward to finding these answers for you. As soon as we get them, Giant Freakin Robot will be passing them along. Anyone out there excited to see Brendan Fraser return to his Mummy roots?
