Fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise will have a lot to look forward to when Mission: Impossible 7 comes along next summer. We've seen Tom Cruise riding motorcycles off mountains and fighting on trains. New stars like Hayley Atwell will be joining the cast and characters from past films will be making big returns. There's a lot we still don't know about what the next two Mission: Impossible movies will bring us, but one thing we apparently do know is that the movies will not include a massive star of Bollywood.
A rumor started online recently claiming that Indian actor Prabhas, one of the biggest, and highest paid, names in Bollywood cinema would be joining the Mission: Impossible franchise in some sort of "key role." The rumor was making the rounds in India, leading one fan to go straight to the source and ask Mission: Impossible 7 director Christopher McQuarrie if the rumors were true. While McQuarrie was very complimentary of Prabhas, he shot down the rumor, saying this is just another case of the internet being the internet.
The initial rumor specifically stated that Christopher McQuarrie had confirmed the casting of Prabhas, who stars in Braahubali: The Beginning, and its sequel, two of the highest grossing movies ever in India. Of course, the place where McQuarrie had allegedly made this confirmation was never specifically cited. It made the whole thing questionable from the start, but obviously for Indian movie fans a rumor like this would have been too hard to ignore.
At this point, it's impossible to know exactly where this rumor came from. It might have had some basis in fact. Perhaps there were early talks between the film and the actor, or perhaps his name was on a short list for a role but it ended up going in a different direction. We've certainly seen cases where a possibility in casting gets blown out of proportion and becomes a story that casting has happened.
Alternatively, the entire thing could have been made up just to see how far it would go. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen that either. And combining a major Hollywood action franchise with a huge star in India is just the sort of thing that could blow up if the cards fell right. The way Christopher McQuarrie responds to the rumor, he's shutting it down pretty hard, which would seem to indicate this latter scenario is close to the truth.
Based on the way the rumor did pick up in India however, it's clear that there are a lot of people that might like to see Prabhas show up in Mission: Impossible or some other Hollywood action franchise. As international box office becomes more and more important to Hollywood, it's far from crazy to think that some studio might consider casting him as a way to appeal to Indian audiences. So perhaps this rumor that turned out to be untrue could lead to something similar actually happening down the road.
