The Mummy 4 Set Photos Confirm One Major Rick O'Connell Theory, & Set Up A Major Plot Detail
Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.
Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
We've finally gotten a new look at The Mummy 4, with new set photos showing Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell in action ahead of the main story. These thrilling new set photos from The Mummy 4 show Fraser filming scenes at a former military base in Suffolk, England, which is apparently doubling as a race-track in the film. Fraser's Rick O'Connell is shown wearing a black leather jacket and taking off a racing helmet.
Fraser is surrounded by extras who are wearing clothing that appears to be dated to the 1950s. Even more curious, though, he has people working for him wearing uniforms with "Rick O'Connell Racing" written on the back. Another shot shows Fraser himself in a vintage silver-and-red rocket car labeled, fitting with the racing outfit. The images may be few in number, but these details all confirm what had already been hinted at by set reports — and may offer a major clue to The Mummy 4's plot.
We Seem To Know What's Happened To Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell
According to People, Rick is driving for a 1957 speed trials sequence. The outfit appears to suggest he's become something of a celebrity, pursuing his career as an adventurer. It also seems likely Rick and his wife and fellow adventurer, Rachel Weisz's Evelyn, are now pretty wealthy; the cars used in this kind of competition tended to be incredibly expensive. While most attracted sponsors, the men who ran teams were often millionaires in their own right.
All that suggests Rick is living his best life when the events of The Mummy 4 kick off. It's reasonable to assume Rachel still works at the British Museum, meaning she too will be enjoying something like a "Happily Ever After." The Mummy 4's cast is rumored to include Arnold Vosloo and Oded Fehr, perhaps meaning Rick and Evelyn's past comes back to haunt them and disrupt this perfect life.
The 1957 Setting Is A Massive Clue To The Mummy 4
But the 1957 setting is an important one when it comes to Egyptian archaeology. The relationship between Britain and Egypt crumbled after the Suez Crisis, and many British archaeologists were forced out of Egypt. Since around 1952, archaeology had become a subject of intense national debate in Egypt, and that had only accelerated by 1957. British digs appear to have stopped, only resuming in the 1960s.
Archeology wasn't quite a field in crisis; the British Museum continued to enjoy a relationship with Egypt. But Evelyn in particular would be operating in a very different world, one where she didn't have the access she used to enjoy. What's more, should ancient threats like Imhotep return, she won't be able to get into Egypt as easily; and she certainly won't have the diplomatic weight of Britain behind her.
All this essentially raises the stakes for The Mummy 4. The original movie took place in the 1920s, at a time when Britain had a great deal of influence in Egypt. Now, though, Evelyn and Rick are themselves heroes of the past; icons who stand for a system now in decline, much more isolated in the world they now live in. Little wonder Brendan Fraser praised the script.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.