‘The Mummy’: Princess Ahmanet’s Past Officially Revealed

Entertainment Weekly has revealed the backstory for The Mummy herself Princess Ahmanet played by Sofia Boutella in the upcoming reboot directed by Alex Kurtzman.

Kurtzman himself has not only swapped the charming era of the 1930’s for a darker, modern day setting, the new film has also opted for Boutella as a female Mummy rather than previous incarnations which featured Imhotep played by Boris Karloff and Arnold Vosloo.

According to the magazine, Ahmanet’s father failed to deliver on his promise to make her pharaoh after he sired a son, igniting her fury and leading her to become the horrific monster. Kurtzman explained that Ahmanet is “a woman who wasn’t content to be put in her place and wanted something more.”

The film itself will also introduce Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll and serve to kick off the studio’s new shared cinematic universe “full of monsters” as Crowe says in the trailer, all based on the classic monster flicks produced by Universal in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man to name a few. But don’t expect too much groundwork to be laid for the upcoming shared universe as Kurtzman also set the expectation that the film is very much focused on Boutella’s Ahmanet and Tom Cruise’s, Nick Morton:

“The movie’s called The Mummy, not The Mummy Meets 12 Other Monsters. If we create a world that feels interesting and scary, then we will have succeeded in setting up the larger universe.”

The film stars Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Courtney B. Vance and Russel Crowe. Here is the official synopsis:

“Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension. From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.”