Luke Ford will star as Brendan Fraser’s 20-something son in the third ‘Mummy’ film.

Universal Pictures and director Rob Cohen have tapped 26-year-old Australian actor Luke Ford to star in the third installment of The Mummy.

Cohen said that the future of the franchise might go completely in a father-son direction with Brendan Fraser — who plays American adventurer Rick O’Connell, the hero of the first two films — and Ford as his 20-something son, Alex O’Connell.

Here’s what Cohen had to say about casting Ford:

“… by getting an actor who is in his 20s and not a teenager, we can also put the future on his shoulders. He tested against four much more established actors, and he was magic when he read with Brendan.”

In the upcoming sequel, the father-son duo will journey into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas, where they run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor (Jet Li) who was cursed by a female wizard (Michelle Yeoh).

Universal has tested six actresses to replace Rachel Weisz in the role of Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell after she declined to reprise.

The Mummy 3 (some reports list the title as The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon) was written by Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough. Shooting will begin in Montreal on July 27, and then move to China. The film will open in July 2008, just before the Olympics begin in Beijing.

Source: Variety