The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Development
In November 2001, director Stephen Sommers, who directed the previous Mummy films, said about directing a third film, "There is a demand for it, but most of the gang would only be up for it again if we could find a way to make it bigger and better." In May 2004 during the release of Van Helsing), he expressed his doubts about having the energy to make a third film, though the cast of previous films had expressed interest in returning. In December 2005, he reviewed a script written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, about a Chinese mummy (China's first emperor, who wants to take over the world with his army of accursed warriors in 1940).
Development
The idea of The Emperor and his army is based on the real-life Qin emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was buried amidst thousands of crafted and fired terra cotta soldiers, called the Terracotta Army.
Writing
The script took place in 1940 during World War II instead of afterward. Rick and Evy are introduced in Agra, India, acting as spies for the British government, observing Okumura, believing he has a secret weapon for the Japanese to win the war, later revealed to be the Emperor. With the backdrop of the war, the script shows the tensions between the Chinese and Japanese, with one scene in Imhotep's where Jonathan calms a dispute between the O'Connells friend and Chinese resistance member, Chang, and Japanese Major Suki. Another later had the O'Connells reluctantly forced to stand back and watch Chang get captured by Japanese troops, who collect insurgents and send them on trains to work camps, as Lily previously told Alex. It's revealed that despite Rick and Evy sending Alex to Yale to protect him, he left his first year without their knowledge and failed to enlist in the army before being called by Willoughby to work with him. Unlike the film, the O'Connells learn the Emperor has five days to become immortal after he's awakened, or he'll turn to dust. Later, at a monastery in the Himalayas ransacked by Japanese soldiers, they encounter a Tibetan monk they dub Tequila, who joins the group, leading them to the Temple of Whispering Skulls and accompanying them to the Great Wall. Rather than the Emperor Mummy mortally wounding Rick, Alex would've taken the hit to save his dad.
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