Mission: Impossible newcomer Hayley Atwell is no stranger to action. Thanks to MCU roles in the likes of Captain America: The First Avenger and the short-lived Agent Carter series, the actress is more than adept at keeping up when the bullets and explosions start flying, and Atwell has now shared what a great time she's having while working alongside stunt-man extraordinaire and Hollywood icon, Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible 7

"My new driving instructor. Hope I don't crash into anything..."

Atwell's role in proceedings continues to remain a closely guarded secret. The mysterious character has been described as a "destructive force of nature" by director Christopher McQuarrie, while Hayley Atwell explained that her character's loyalties are "somewhat ambiguous" while revealing that she too is largely in the dark about her role in the movie. "I've been living in an existential crisis since October, going 'who am I? who am I?'" she said earlier this year. "An actor in search of a character... There's ambiguity...the interesting thing we're exploring is her resistance to a situation she finds herself in. How she starts off, where she becomes. The journey of what she comes into and what is asked of her and potentially where she ends up."

Well, at least we now know that Atwell will be involved in some sort of car chase sequence with Tom Cruise at her side. Guaranteed to light up the screen, the Mission: Impossible franchise has become well-renowned for pushing the action blockbuster boundaries, with movie number seven likely to be no different. Footage and images from behind the scenes have so far teased a huge action sequence on an exploding bridge, Tom Cruise running atop a speeding train and The Cruiser leaping from a motorcycle mid-air, which all suggests that Cruise will once again be putting himself in danger in the name of cinematic entertainment.

These death-defying stunts are not just intense for the audience though, with Cruise's co-star Simon Pegg recently revealing his terror at watching the actor put his life at risk. "When you watch the movie and you see [Tom] do the stunts, and it's nail-biting and there's a real sense of genuine kind of peril and you know that it's him," he said. "But you know he survived because he was on Good Morning America that morning and he did some press. When we watch him do it, we have no idea if he's going to survive. So he rides a bike off a cliff, and everybody's just waiting for, 'Good canopy, good canopy, anybody?' It's terrifying."

Though plot details remain scarce, Mission: Impossible 7 will pick up after the last entry in the long-running action series, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which was also written, produced, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. The Fallout cast included Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin, along with Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett. The movie pushed Cruise's secret agent Ethan Hunt to the brink, with those who survived the explosive events of Mission: Impossible - Fallout likely to reprise their roles for Mission: Impossible 7. The upcoming sequel also sees Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, and Esai Morales, join the cast.

Two untitled sequels, one of them being Mission: Impossible 7, are both scheduled to be released on November 19, 2021 and November 4, 2022 respectively, with both movies set to be helmed by director Christopher McQuarrie. Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 are expected to be the final parts of Ethan Hunt's story, with McQuarrie teasing ties to the original movie that started it all.

Shooting on Mission: Impossible 7 is now underway following a delay due to the ongoing global situation. This comes to us courtesy of Hayley Atwell's official Instagram account.