Past Characters, Even Dead Ones, Will Return for Mission: Impossible Sequels

Spoilers ahead for the Mission: Impossible movies! [poilib element="accentDivider"] The seventh and eighth installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise will bring back past characters -- even those who perished in the previous films. "Any character, dead or alive, is fair game to return," director Christopher McQuarrie revealed during an appearance on the Light the Fuse podcast (via THR). Indeed, Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 will see the return of former IMF head Eugene Kittridge (once again played by Henry Czerny) from the original 1996 film. (In his tweet announcing Czerny's casting, McQuarrie warned, "There is no escaping the past...") In addition to series star Tom Cruise, the next M:I sequels also bring back Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/13/mission-impossible-in-7-minutes-2018-update"] On the podcast, McQuarrie went on to say that he's already cut a flashback scene involving a now-dead character because it didn't suit the movie he was making. But do McQuarrie's comments mean Henry Cavill's M:I - Fallout bad guy August Walker could return? Or perhaps Alec Baldwin's Alan Hunley, who also died in Fallout? Or is the plan to dig even further back in the series to the likes of Ethan's mentor-turned-enemy Jim Phelps (played by Jon Voight) or any of Ethan's teammates who also died in that first movie? Maybe the next two sequels will also see Jeremy Renner reprise his role as IMF Agent William Brandt, who appeared in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation? Time will tell. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/07/30/christopher-mcquarrie-breaks-down-mission-impossible-fallouts-bathroom-scene"] Mission: Impossible 7 was poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy when that country went into lockdown and production on the Tom Cruise film was shut down indefinitely. With the resumption of filming still unclear, Paramount has changed the wide release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8, previously scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, has now been pushed to November 4, 2022.