Hugh Jackman teases Van Helsing comeback for a Mummy-style reboot

Had a bit of déjà vu recently watching Hugh Jackman swanning about in The Death of Robin Hood—mainly because his flowing hair practically screams Van Helsing all over again. If you remember, that film was a gloriously bonkers supernatural monster bash from Stephen Sommers back in 2004. Anyway, as I was making that mental connection, up pops an interview with JoBlo's Jay Saint G throwing that exact idea to Jackman: would he ever return to the role? Feels like the universe is conspiring to get some Victorian vampire-slaying back on our screens.

Jackman Gets the Van Helsing Question

So, Jay Saint G sat down with Jackman and The Death of Robin Hood's director, Michael Sarnoski, to chat about their newest film. Inevitably, the conversation drifted over to Hollywood revivals—specifically the news that Brendan Fraser is set to return in a new Mummy sequel. That tidbit genuinely took Jackman by surprise. You could see him clocking it for a second. Suddenly, it was his turn to get the nostalgia treatment. No one, apparently, asks him about Van Helsing anymore. Jay changed that by digging into whether Jackman would take up the hat and crossbow again, especially since reboots are thick on the ground in 2026.

Jackman, who always sounds up for a laugh, didn’t rule it out. He gave the classic non-committal, yet tantalising answer:

'Never say never.'

So, as non-answers go, that pretty much leaves the door wide open for some future monster business.

A Look Back at Van Helsing: The Movie and Its Era

For those who weren’t mainlining every gothic creature feature back in the early 2000s, a quick refresher: in Van Helsing, Jackman played the legendary vampire hunter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film itself is pointedly excessive—monsters, gadgets, creeping about Transylvanian castles, all the trimmings. The plot? Van Helsing’s dispatched to deal with Count Dracula, who’s up to no good using Frankenstein-style science and a werewolf henchman.

Jackman led the charge, with Kate Beckinsale pitching in as Anna Valerious. Worth noting: this was just after Beckinsale’s genuinely brilliant turn as a violent vampire in Underworld. It was a golden age for leather jackets, theatrical accents and action sequences powered by questionable CGI.

Why a Return Could (Sort of) Make Sense

• Fans love a nostalgia-fuelled comeback, and Hollywood’s absolutely obsessed with sequels and reboots in recent years.
• Jackman’s 'Never say never' puts him firmly in the “tempt me with a good script and some paycheques” camp.
• Technology has changed a lot since 2004—so if they were daft enough to try again, you’d at least get decent monsters this time.
• The original is now considered one of those 'awfully good' cult oddities. Definitely not serious cinema, but not boring either.
• And yes, for some reason, training up a “next generation” Van Helsing is exactly the sort of nonsense that’d get greenlit these days.

The State of Play

No studios are waving contracts around—yet—but with Fraser back in a tomb and Universal still getting mileage out of its monsters, who knows? Jackman’s sitting firmly on the fence, but at this point, ‘never say never’ sounds less like a joke and more like a calendar reminder for some highly paid executives.