THE MUMMY 4 Update, Including a Release Date |

The Mummy 4 Update, Including a Release Date

Great movie news to report to you today here at Life After Gateway …

I previously posted about The Mummy 4, and Brendan Fraser’s return to the classic franchise, along with Rachel Weisz, HERE, where I also posted my recipe (formula) for a Universal monster movie of this sort:

They should take place in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
They should be gothic mysteries with sparks of horror and mystery. It’s one of the reasons why Tom Cruise’s recent Mummy film felt a bit out of place for me … it was actually out of time.
Think about this for a minute and tell me if you agree or disagree: (The Strange Case of) Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and The Invisible Man are all built for that era in time, in London, England perhaps, alongside the likes of Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, and Scotland Yard. The aesthetic should include gaslights in the cobblestone streets, foggy nights, and horse/buggies.
Science and medicine in these films should be in their infancies. As a result, mysteries should be more difficult to solve.
Travel should more of a challenge, with events happening on long train rides, or long boat cruises, or long caravans through deserts.

Since then, we’ve had a few updates, and I wanted to share them with fellow fans of adventure films. We know that since Fraser won the Academy Award for The Whale, there was immediate talk of him returning for another installment of The Mummy. He’s wanted to come back for years. In fact, this installment was the one that was supposed to be filmed following the second, but, according to Fraser, the company wanted an Asian-based Mummy film to coincide with the Olympics. This was back in 2008 with Tomb of the Dragon Emperor — released around the same time as the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Fraser, in an interview with the Associated Press, said this:

“The one I wanted to make was never made. The third one was a model of … how can I say this to the AP reporter? NBC had the rights to broadcast the Olympics that year. So they put two together and we went to China. Working in Shanghai, an incredible experience. I’m proud of the third one because I think it’s a good standalone movie. We picked up and did what we do with a different crew on deck and gave it our best shot. But the one I wanted to make is forthcoming. And I’ve been waiting 20 years for this call. Sometimes it was loud, sometimes it was a faint telegraph. Now? It’s time to give the fans what they want.”

So this Mummy is an older story that has been around for a while, and it’s one Fraser is excited about.

We have some news about it now. The release date is: 19 May 2028. That’s twenty years after the previous installment, and twenty-nine years after the first movie in this franchise. Filming is likely to start late 2026, or perhaps early 2027.

Oded Fehr in The Mummy Returns 2001

Online chatter is clear: Fans definitely want to see a return of Oded Fehr, who portrayed Ardeth Bay in the first two, and is currently filming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. They also would like a return of Evelyn’s brother, John Hannah, who played Jonathan Carnahan.

Fraser, Weisz, Hannah in 1999

There is still no word on the cast other than Fraser and Weisz.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are directing this installment. The due (Radio Silence) also directed Ready or Not 1 & 2, Scream 2022, Scream 6.

As more news arrives, I’ll post it here at Life After Gateway. Watch this space, and take a journey over to my Instagram account today to watch my brand new Mummy reel … especially if you are a cat lover.

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 20 February 2026

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007