Imhotep is back: Arnold Vosloo confirms he’s returning for the new Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser

Here we go – after endless rumblings and a lot of "wait and see" from Universal, Arnold Vosloo himself has confirmed he's resurrecting Imhotep one more time for The Mummy: Book of the Dead. For anyone with fond memories of the late-90s adventure films, this is precisely the sort of fan service people have been hoping for, especially since Universal hadn't said a thing about his casting.

Speaking with Jack Carr on the "Danger Close" podcast, Vosloo said: "I can report now...I just signed my deal. We are doing another 'Mummy.' Brendan and them are shooting now in London. And the character Imhotep is back, that I play. I'll be going there in November. The first time I've admitted...I'm back in the next 'Mummy.' Imhotep is back. Somebody wakes me up...they read from the Book of the Dead...and there we are."

The Band's Back Together, Sort Of

This new film – The Mummy: Book of the Dead – has assembled a mix of returning and fresh faces. Alongside Vosloo, you get Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor, and John Hannah. The one notable new addition is Michael Johnston (from Obsession), though they're keeping quiet on who exactly he's playing.

If you're wondering about continuity: they're ignoring that slightly disappointing third instalment – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – entirely. That one saw Weisz swapped out for Maria Bello and a new director, Rob Cohen, replace Stephen Sommers from the first two films. It made less than its predecessors (but still cleared $400 million at the box office). Oddly enough, it's still less of a mess than that botched Tom Cruise reboot, which burned Universal's plans for a so-called 'Dark Universe' to the ground.

The Mummy: Book of the Dead only treats the original two films — the 1999 and 2001 instalments — as canon, so if you're a completionist, you can push the rest out of your mind.

A Digital Facelift for Imhotep

Vosloo told Carr that the new directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (known as Radio Silence), are putting him through the whole digital de-ageing process, so he'll look "like I did when I was 38 years old, when I made the first one." No pressure, then. It's a bit of a trend lately, this business of giving actors a digital facelift, and it seems Imhotep gets to cheat time just as much as death.

• The Mummy: Book of the Dead is shooting in London
• Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett (Radio Silence)
• Main cast: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor, John Hannah, Michael Johnston
• Ignoring 2008’s 'Dragon Emperor' and 2017’s Tom Cruise film
• Vosloo shooting his scenes from November
• Cinema release set for 15 October 2027