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Last year came the announcement from Dwayne Johnson that he was rebooting the movie franchise that gave him his start, The Scorpion King. A year later and a fresh update on what’s going on behind-the-scenes has been made public. Speaking in a new interview with Collider, Johnson’s collaborator and producer Hiram Garcia revealed the first draft of the script is complete. “We just got a first draft in and we’re having a polish done on it now,” Garcia said. “That’s such a beloved franchise, and like you alluded to, that entire world including the Mummy and Scorpion King are so much fun that we just want to continue telling stories in that space.”
It was previously reported that Straight Outta Compton screenwriter Jonathan Herman, nominated for an Academy Award for the NWA biopic, would pen the script. The new version of the movie, a spin-off of The Mummy franchise from the late 1990s/early 2000s, marks the first involvement of Johnson and any of his camp in the series since the first film. Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions will produce the film. The initial report on the film revealed that Johnson himself was unlikely the play the titular role again but wouldn’t rule out later appearance.
“The Scorpion King was my very first role ever on the silver screen and I’m honored and excited to reimagine and deliver this cool mythology to a whole new generation,” Johnson said in a statement last year. “I wouldn’t have had the career I’m lucky enough to have had it not been for The Scorpion King and I’m thrilled that we at Seven Bucks Productions can help create those same opportunities for other hard working actors today. I believe Jonathan Herman will put in the hard work to deliver a fantastic script for our global audience.”
Johnson made his debut as Mathayus of Akkad aka The Scorpion King in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, nabbing his own solo spinoff the next year. The movie would go on to be a success at the global box office and immediately spawn sequels, but Johnson wouldn’t appear in any of them. The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior would debut direct-to-video in 2008 with Michael Copon taking over the part. Three more direct-to-video sequels would follow suit with Victor Webster in the role for parts 3 & 4 ad Zach McGowan taking over for the fifth and final film.