The Mummy Characters: Every Main Hero and Villain

The main Mummy characters are the O'Connell family and their allies in the three core films, the mummy villain each film builds around, and separate casts for the 1932 original, the Scorpion King spin-off and the 2017 film. The name "The Mummy" covers three film titles and the creature itself, so the years matter below. If you are new to the series, think of it like a long running television show that swaps its lead villain every season while the family at the center mostly stays put. Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) is a separate film outside this franchise, and its characters are unrelated to the ones below.

The heart of the saga is the cast of The Mummy (1999), directed by Stephen Sommers, and The Mummy Returns (2001), also directed by Sommers. Rick O'Connell is the soldier of fortune played by Brendan Fraser, freed from a Cairo prison to guide a party to the lost city of Hamunaptra. Evelyn Carnahan, played by Rachel Weisz, is the librarian who sets the whole expedition in motion, and she is known as Evelyn O'Connell by the time of the sequel. Jonathan Carnahan is her reckless brother, played by John Hannah, and he supplies most of the comedy and a fair share of the trouble.

The opposition is Imhotep, the high priest cursed to a living death, played by Arnold Vosloo in both films. His lover, Anck-Su-Namun, is played by Patricia Velásquez, who also returns in the sequel billed with a second role named Meela. On the heroes' side, Ardeth Bay, played by Oded Fehr, is the Medjai warrior who has spent his life guarding against the mummy's return. Smaller roles round out the ensemble, including Kevin J. O'Connor as the treasure hunter Beni Gabor, Jonathan Hyde as Allen Chamberlain and Erick Avari as Terence Bey.

The Mummy Returns adds Alex O'Connell, the young son of Rick and Evelyn, played by Freddie Boath. It also brings in Alun Armstrong as the cult leader Baltus Hafez and Shaun Parkes as the pilot Izzy Buttons. Dwayne Johnson makes his screen debut as Mathayus, the warrior who becomes the Scorpion King, according to ABC News.

The Scorpion King (2002), directed by Chuck Russell, is a spin-off set in ancient times, so none of the O'Connells appear. Mathayus, played again by Dwayne Johnson, is an Akkadian assassin hired to kill a seer. The cast includes Steven Brand as the conqueror Memnon, Michael Clarke Duncan as Balthazar, Kelly Hu as the seer Cassandra, Bernard Hill as Philos and Grant Heslov as the thief Arpid.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), directed by Rob Cohen, moves the story to China in 1946. Brendan Fraser and John Hannah return as Rick and Jonathan, while Luke Ford plays the grown up Alex. Variety reported that Maria Bello replaced Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, which makes this the one core film where the role changes hands. The new villain is the Dragon Emperor, listed as Han and played by Jet Li. Michelle Yeoh plays the sorceress Zi Yuan, Isabella Leong Lok-Sze plays Lin, and Anthony Wong Chau-sang plays Yang.

Two spin-offs on this hub tell separate stories. The Mummy (1932), directed by Karl Freund, stars Boris Karloff as Imhotep, who also goes by the name Ardath Bey. Zita Johann plays Helen Grosvenor, David Manners plays Frank Whemple, Arthur Byron plays Sir Joseph Whemple and Edward Van Sloan plays Dr. Muller.

The Mummy (2017), directed by Alex Kurtzman, has no link to the Fraser films. Tom Cruise plays soldier and treasure hunter Nick Morton, Annabelle Wallis plays archaeologist Jenny Halsey, and Sofia Boutella plays the mummy, Ahmanet. Jake Johnson plays Chris Vail, Courtney B. Vance plays Colonel Greenway, Russell Crowe plays Henry Jekyll and Marwan Kenzari plays Malik.

Every mummy in the series wants someone back, and that want shapes the hero who has to stop it. It could be argued that the 1932 film set the template: Karloff's Imhotep, living as Ardath Bey, believes Helen Grosvenor is the reincarnated Anck-es-en-Amon, and the 1999 film borrows the idea of a priest who needs a living woman to restore his lost love. In the 1999 film, Imhotep needs Evelyn as the sacrifice for Anck-su-namun, and Evelyn is the one who wakes him by reading aloud from the golden book against Rick's advice. She also reads from the second book to make him mortal, so the character who starts the problem ends it, which is why she carries the story more than Rick does, in my reading.

The Mummy Returns widens the idea. Evelyn turns out to be the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess who was Anck-Su-Namun's old enemy, and Anck-Su-Namun is reborn as the cultist Meela, so the rivalry between the two women drives the plot as much as the mummy does. Alex is the first child in the saga to be a target rather than a bystander, because the bracelet he puts on starts the seven day clock.

The 2008 film swaps romance for betrayal. Han is a warlord who wanted to live forever, and Zi Yuan cursed him after he had her lover Ming killed, so the heroes sit between two sides of an old love story. By the end Zi Yuan gives up her own immortality to raise Ming's army. That sacrifice is the clearest case in the series of a supporting character outweighing the headline villain.

The 2017 film turns the pattern around. Ahmanet is a princess who makes a deal with the god Set after losing her place on the throne, and her hero, Nick Morton, is her intended vessel for Set rather than a rescuer of anyone's lover. Nick accepts Set's power and keeps control, which makes him closer to a cursed protagonist than to Rick, the adventurer who gets through on nerve and luck.

Universal's fourth Mummy film, The Mummy: Book of the Dead, is set for October 15, 2027, according to Variety. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are returning, and Radio Silence directs. Plot details have not been disclosed, so the roles they play and the name of any new mummy are unannounced. For the wider picture, see the Mummy cast, the Mummy villains and the Mummy timeline.