In addition to being amazing films, the most recent installments of the Mission: Impossible series have been highly beneficial to the franchise in two very specific ways: a stronger focus on continuity, and amazing location-centric set pieces. This will naturally continue with the next sequel -- for now simply known as Mission: Impossible 6 -- and we have confirmed two ways in which that will happen: the return of Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust, and plans to shoot in both Paris and New Zealand. I spoke with the actress this past weekend and she told me,
I miss her. I think she is such an incredible, strong, independent, vulnerable human being, and I miss the stunt... I'm doing stunt work right now, so I'm not missing it. I'm on break for a minute. But it's lovely going into it not knowing what the big sequences are going to be. Because they don't really present it all at once, and then you train for it. You train in martial arts, and you learn the technique, and then you break it up, and from that comes movement. I'm going to New Zealand and Paris!
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rebecca Ferguson this past weekend during the press day for Life in Austin, Texas, and at the end of our chat I asked her about her future with the Mission: Impossible franchise, and what makes her excited for the next sequel. With the blockbuster preparing to start principal photography in the next few months, she is currently in preparation mode, and while it seems that writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's is keeping his big stunt plans a mystery, she is getting ready to kick all ass that requires kicking.
Audiences first met Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation, and for a good portion of the film it was definitely hard to get a read on her real allegiances. Between assassination attempts and stealing data, she spent a surprising amount of time messing with Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, but by the end proved to be a real ally and capture the illusive leader of the Syndicate, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). It's rather fitting and funny that she will be back for Mission: Impossible 6 given that her background before joining up with the spies from the Impossible Mission Force was with the British intelligence outfit MI6.
Obviously the new locations that Rebecca Ferguson mentioned are also rather tantalizing to think about. Between the Burj Khalifa sequence and the destruction of the Kremlin, to the action through the Vienna Opera House, the franchise has done a stellar job taking advantage of notable international locations. From the Eifel Tower to Notre-Dame, Paris certainly offers up plenty of opportunities for Christopher McQuarrie to explore, but New Zealand is a bit of a wild card. I wish I could tell you to keep your fingers crossed to see Ethan Hunt and his crew visit the Hobbiton Movie Set, but Ferguson also confirmed to me that they will be filming on the south island, not the north.
Mission: Impossible 6 - which very recently added Henry Cavill to its ensemble - is currently on the release schedule for July 27, 2018, and we'll have more details for you as the project moves through development. Stay tuned for more from my interview with Rebecca Ferguson, and look for her in theaters this weekend in Life!
