Director Christopher McQuarrie's upcoming action sequel, Mission: Impossible 7, is bringing back a character not seen since the very first movie in the franchise, sleazy IMF director Eugene Kittridge. Last seen way, way back in 1996's Mission: Impossible, the character will be back for the upcoming seventh installment, with McQuarrie now giving us our first look at his return.

Seen sat on a train basked in sunlight, and no doubt plotting something, Henry Czerny will once again reprise the role of Eugene Kittridge. While his role in the movie remains a mystery, director Christopher McQuarrie has previously teased that both this sequel and Mission: Impossible 8 will be the final parts of Ethan Hunt's story, taking the hero back to the beginning, and providing a much more emotional journey for the seemingly indestructible action hero.

"When we went into making Fallout, I said to Tom, 'I really want to make this more of an emotional journey for [Cruise's character Ethan Hunt],'" McQuarrie said. "Going into this, I said, 'I want to take what we learned from Fallout and apply it to every character in the movie. I want everyone to have an emotional arc. ... I just want the movie to have more feeling across the board."

The last time audiences saw Eugene Kittridge he was in the role of antagonist, hunting Tom Cruise's IMF agent across the globe, believing him to be a mole. Of course, Hunt runs around non-stop, blowing things up and stealing all manner of secret documents in order to clear his name, with Kittridge ultimately proven wrong and reinstating Hunt in the IMF. At present, we still don't know what role Kittridge will play in Mission: Impossible 7, but it will be interesting to see this character return, particularly since the franchise has gotten a lot more excessively action-packed since his last appearance.

Along with Czerny's return, Mission: Impossible 7 is also bringing back Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, a black-market arms dealer also known as the White Widow and daughter of "Max", a character who also appeared in the very first Mission: Impossible movie. The movie sees the likes of Tom Cruise return as Ethan Hunt alongside Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, and Rebecca Ferguson as former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust. The sequel will also add Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, and Esai Morales to the Mission: Impossible roster.

Filming on Mission: Impossible 7 is still ongoing but is nearing the end, with production recently wrapping up in the Middle East with the crew reportedly set to return to London for some "finishing touches."

Mission: Impossible 7 is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2021, after being pushed back from its original release date of July 23, 2021 due to the ongoing global situation. The movie will then be available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after its theatrical debut. The initial plan was for McQuarrie to film both Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 back-to-back, but sadly those plans have now changed due to delays. This comes to us courtesy of Christopher McQuarrie's official Instagram account.