Evelyn the Mummy: Evelyn Carnahan and Evelyn O'Connell Explained

Evelyn is the librarian at the center of The Mummy (1999), a woman who gets hold of a clue to the lost city of Hamunaptra through her reckless brother, Jonathan Carnahan. Stephen Sommers directed the film, and Rachel Weisz plays her as Evelyn Carnahan, billed second behind Brendan Fraser. She persuades the adventurer Rick O'Connell to guide the Carnahans across the desert.

Her name changes as the series goes on, and that is the main source of confusion for new viewers. The credits list her as Evelyn Carnahan in 1999, as Evelyn O'Connell / Nefertiri in The Mummy Returns (2001), and as Evelyn O'Connell in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), directed by Rob Cohen. By 1933 she is married to Rick and raising their son, Alex O'Connell.

Two actors have played her. Weisz appears in the first two films, and Maria Bello plays Evelyn in the third. Variety reported that Bello was cast in place of Weisz, and the film credits her in the role. No trade report gives a reason for the change.

She does not appear in The Mummy (1932), The Scorpion King or The Mummy (2017), and Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) is a separate film outside this franchise. For the wider ensemble, see the Mummy characters.

Evelyn's closest bond is with Rick, and by 1933 they are married with a son. They meet in The Mummy (1999) when she and Jonathan free him from a Cairo prison so he can guide them to Hamunaptra.

Her brother Jonathan is the family's loose cannon. His carelessness with the puzzle box starts the first film, and he is still tagging along in 1933 and 1946. In The Mummy Returns, Jonathan and Alex are the ones who use the Book of the Dead to bring Evelyn back after she is mortally wounded.

Alex, played by Freddie Boath in 2001 and Luke Ford in 2008, is her son. In the 2008 film Evelyn works with Lin against Yang and Choi.

On the villain side, Imhotep wants Evelyn as the sacrifice for Anck-su-namun in 1999. The sequel reveals Evelyn as the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun's old enemy, so the rivalry is built into who she is. The 1932 original used a similar idea, with Helen Grosvenor believed to be the reincarnated princess.

In my opinion, the best Evelyn scene is the 1999 climax, because it turns her biggest mistake into the solution. She wakes Imhotep by reading aloud from the golden book and ends him by reading from the other one, which makes the librarian the saga's real hero rather than a bystander waiting to be rescued.

My second pick is the Ahm Shere collapse in The Mummy Returns. Evelyn has been mortally wounded and revived, and she still saves Rick as the oasis falls apart, which reverses the usual rescue. It is a clean example of the ensemble sharing the heavy lifting.

The third is smaller: the 2008 film puts Evelyn and Lin against Yang and Choi while the men fight the emperor. It could be argued that the recast changes her tone, but the writing still keeps her in the action. Perhaps the safest take is that Weisz defines Evelyn and Bello inherits her, so if you want the core of the character, start with The Mummy (1999). For the order to watch them in, see the Mummy movies in order.