John Hannah has broken his silence on a return to The Mummy franchise for the new movie with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Late last year it was reported that Fraser and Weisz would be reprising their roles from the 1999 movie as Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan, respectively.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel will likely be ignoring the third instalment The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, in which Maria Bello took over from Weisz as Evelyn.
Universal has hired Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett to direct with a script from David Coggeshall.
At the time of the original announcement, there was no mention of Hannah and fans were left hoping that the star, who played Evelyn's brother Jonathan, might also reprise his role as the film's comic relief.
Speaking to Radio Times about whether he had heard anything about the new film, Hannah said: "Not officially. I mean, I've heard and seen the rumours same as everybody else, and that would be fun to do. It would be fun to hook up with everybody again."
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While noting that he couldn't imagine how the producers intended to bring the original cast back, Hannah said he wasn't a writer, saying: "We'll leave that with those who have those skills."
However, there was some good news as the actor said he had spoken to Fraser about the reboot, saying: "[Fraser] said that what they were looking to do was bring the original cast back together again.
"Certainly, in terms of Brendan and Rachel [Weisz], bringing them back together, and Rachel was up for it, by all accounts.
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"She was willing to do that, having gone off and created her own path and been very successful as a producer, as an actor, Oscar nominated."
On how he felt when he was first offered the role of Jonathan, Hannah said: "When I was first offered The Mummy, it was a bit like, 'I'm a serious actor, what do I want to go and do that kind of nonsense for?'"
He continued: "But these are good family fun films, and if they've got a good... I mean, if they asked me to do it, I'll do it. Let's not be cute or anything. But we'll see what happens. I honestly have no more idea than you, from what I've read and stuff!"
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
