Because Mission: Impossible 7 is shooting back-to-back with Mission: Impossible 8, Tom Cruise and his cohorts on the action franchise have been hard at work for longer than your standard production period. Principal photography kicked off back in September (a little over five months later than originally planned due to COVID-19 complications), and while there’s no indication yet when cameras will stop rolling, the cast at least still seems to still be getting along splendidly, as evidenced by a new photo featuring Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and more.
Along with both directing and writing Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8, Christopher McQuarrie has sharing photos on social media chronicling the production process. Here’s yet another example of McQuarrie giving the public a behind-the-scenes look, which Simon Pegg shared on his Instagram page:
No big deal, it's just Simon Pegg lifting a nonchalant Rebecca Ferguson into the air while Ving Rhames hangs out in the background with another person. It’s hard to tell what kind of scene the actors are taking a break from shooting in this photo, although judging by the set, I wouldn’t be shocked if we’re looking at another IMF safe house/base where the agents are either laying low or planning the next phase of their mission. Either way, at least we have photographic evidence of Pegg lifting up Ferguson, which is what all good costars should do with one another… although usually that’s done figuratively rather than literally.
Simon Pegg has been an integral player in the Mission: Impossible franchise since his character, Benji Dunn, debuted in Mission: Impossible III. So far we’ve watched Rebecca Ferguson crush it as Ilsa Faust in Rogue Nation and Fallout, and like Benji, she’s become a valued member of the core cast. Of course, Ving Rhames has them both beat, as he’s the only actor besides Tom Cruise to appear in all of the Mission: Impossible movies, although he only cameoed as Luther Stickell at the end of Ghost Protocol. The point being, at this stage of the Mission: Impossible game, it’d be weird if Pegg, Ferguson and Rhames weren’t involved in these next two installments.
Along with the aforementioned actors and Tom Cruise obviously being back as Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible 7’s other familiar faces include Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna Mitsopolis, Frederick Schmidt’s Zola Mitsopolis, Angela Bassett’s Erika Sloane and Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge, the latter of whom hasn’t appeared since the first Mission: Impossible movie. As for the newcomers, we can look forward to Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Virma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes showing up. None of their roles have been officially identified yet, although Morales is confirmed to be playing the main villain.
Plot-wise, we’re still in the dark about what’s in store for Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8, although one can logically assume their stories will be closely intertwined given how they’re being shot and most of the people appearing in the former returning in the latter. You can look forward to Mission: Impossible 7 arriving on November 19, and it’ll be made available on Paramount+ starting January 3, 2022. Mission: Impossible 8 will follow on November 4, 2022.
