Rachel Weisz's The Mummy 4 Return Is The Perfect Reason To Watch This 3-Season '90s Hit

Published Oct 13, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. The news that Rachel Weisz is returning to one of her most iconic roles in The Mummy 4 is a perfect reminder to watch the classic ‘90s TV series that flawlessly flipped those legendary blockbuster movies. While Lee Cronin’s The Mummy was a box office hit, the R-rated horror reboot of Universal’s The Mummy franchise is not the most exciting new addition to the series. The news that Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser are set to reprise their roles as Evelyn and Rick O’Connell from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns set the internet alight earlier in 2026, and for good reason. Director Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy movies are regarded as classic ‘90s adventure movies, and even the misguided 2008 sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor wasn’t enough to dull enthusiasm for this upcoming series reboot. On the contrary, the hype surrounding Wesiz’s first onset photos from The Mummy 4 prove that the series is as popular as ever, and the upcoming 2028 sequel will likely be a huge hit. However, it will be more than a year before that reboot arrives, so viewers have plenty of time to seek out another blend of action adventure, character comedy, fantasy, and horror in the meantime. Fortunately, the criminally underrated ‘90s classic Relic Hunter is a perfect substitute for The Mummy movies. Relic Hunter Was The TV Equivalent Of The Mummy Movies Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb Premiering in 1999, the same year The Mummy was released, and lasting for three seasons and 66 episodes until 2002, Relic Hunter was a ‘90s adventure series that starred Tia Carrere as a glamorous Professor of Ancient Studies, Sydney Fox. While Sydney was theoretically an academic, like Indiana Jones, she spent a lot more time traversing the globe in search of mysterious artifacts and the show’s titular supernatural relics than grading papers or designing course curriculums. Aided and abetted by Nigel, a well-read British sidekick who was ill-suited to the world of adventuring, Fox explored countless countries in search of missing relics. Like a blend of Columbo and Lara Croft, each episode of Relic Hunter began by showing viewers how these artifacts went missing, and then it was up to Sydney to discover their current whereabouts and return them to their rightful homes. The show’s three seasons saw Sydney and Nigel track down all manner of relics, some from the ancient world of prehistory and others from recently deceased pop culture icons. With the same campy tone and character comedy, action adventure storytelling, and fantasy and horror elements, Relic Hunter was essentially a gender-flipped take on The Mummy movies, where the well-read researcher sidekick was a man while the tough action hero was Carrere’s character. Although Relic Hunter was successful enough to last multiple seasons, the show rarely got its proverbial flowers during its run. This is somewhat surprising, since Relic Hunter was a surprisingly rare sight in its day. The series was one of few great contemporary adventure shows from the ‘90s, a time when most shows in the genre were set in period eras like The Mummy movies. Relic Hunter Was Unexpectedly Influential While there were undoubtedly shows like Young Indiana Jones and Xena: Warrior Princess, almost all of these '90s action adventure shows were set in either the recent or distant past. The Michael Biehn vehicle Adventure, Inc was essentially a male spin on Relic Hunter, but that underwhelming show lasted only one season from 2002 until 2003. In contrast, Relic Hunter’s popularity saw the show not only last three times as long, but offer an obvious influence on the pop culture of the 2010s and 2020s. Between the entire The Librarians franchise, Disney’s spinoff series National Treasure: Edge of History, Blood & Treasure, the Dan Brown adaptation The Lost Symbol, and even Netflix’s soapy teen show Outer Banks, adventure shows about contemporary treasure hunters have practically become commonplace in the 2010s and 2020s. Even though they were surprisingly rare when Relic Hunter originally aired, examples of this genre have popped up left, right and center in recent years, and almost all of them borrow something from Relic Hunter. The Librarians franchise effectively functions as a more successful male-led spin on Relic Hunter after Adventure Inc’s ignominious one-season run, while CBS’s Blood & Treasure was a two-season love letter to Relic Hunter. Since even more famous ‘90s classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer can’t sustain reboots in the 2020s, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Carrere’s star vehicle has not yet returned to screens in a revival. However, Relic Hunter should still be prized for its contributions to adventure television. Relic Hunter Remains Underrated 26 Years Later Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb A quarter of a century after the show began, Relic Hunter remains one of the most straightforwardly fun adventure shows of the ‘90s. The series was a killer star vehicle for Carrere, who impressed with supporting roles in everything from Wayne’s World to True Lies, but waited years for a worthy lead role of her own before the series came along. Meanwhile, the charming silliness of the campy series, and its tongue-in-cheek tone, was a clear influence on National Treasure: Edge of History as well as the aforementioned Blood & Treasure. In an era when even the light-hearted thrills of The Mummy movies are being transformed into gritty, gory fare like Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, there is something to be said for a more playful take on the genre that isn’t afraid of taking its subject matter lightly. While Relic Hunter was never devoid of stakes, the show also didn’t take its premise too seriously. The inherent silliness of its premise was baked into the show’s winking sense of humor, something Relic Hunter shared with The Mummy movies. This goes some way to explaining why both the movie franchise and Carrere’s show remain so fondly remembered, since Relic Hunter and The Mummy always felt like they were in on the proverbial joke. Although more recent entries into the Indiana Jones movie franchise earned the ire of longtime fans for failing to take the series seriously enough, Relic Hunter found a better balance between campiness and peril. As a result, viewers who are looking forward to The Mummy 4 could do worse while waiting than to reacquaint themselves with Relic Hunter’s Sydney Fox. Release Date 1999 - 2002-00-00 Cast Christien Anholt Nigel Bailey