Agent Ethan Hunt is coming back to our screens, ready to solve more international cases with the Impossible Missions Force. Paramount will release Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh installment of the spy thriller franchise, in theaters next summer.
Both Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One and the eighth installment, Part Two, will be the send-off for star Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character, so expectations will likely be very high. Part Two was initially to be filmed concurrently with Part One, but logistical issues and delays prevented that from happening. After two years of delays and production shutdowns, it looks like audiences will finally have a chance to see how their favorite impossible agent will begin his final act.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at everything we know about the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Who is set to join Cruise in returning to the cast, and what new faces will be joining? Where will the story take Agent Ethan Hunt? When and where can audiences see the film upon release? And what else should audiences know about Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One?
The Plot
The crew working on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One has remained very quiet about the plot details and where they will take the story. That hasn’t stopped fans from speculating, though. Now that we know the seventh and eighth films will be the final ones for Ethan Hunt, we can begin to wonder about what we might see. The Mission: Impossible franchise has been beloved by audiences for over 25 years, so sticking the landing in Hunt’s farewell tour is no easy task. There are a few possibilities for how they might approach the storyline.
The official title, Dead Reckoning Part One, was revealed Thursday at Paramount's CinemaCon presentation. The Part One notation gives us an idea that a single story will be split between the two films. Whatever way the production team decides to end this iconic action franchise, all that audiences can do at this point is wait and speculate until we have more details.
Filming locations for Dead Reckoning Part One included Norway, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Poland (with the bridge remaining intact). No matter what the story may involve, it is clear from these multiple locations around the world that Ethan Hunt is gearing up for another globetrotting adventure with the IMF.
The Cast
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As we know, Tom Cruise is back in what will be the first of his final two appearances as Agent Ethan Hunt. Longtime costar Ving Rhames is also back in his seventh turn as Luther Stickell, the only character besides Hunt to appear in every film. Rebecca Ferguson will return as Ilsa Faust after previously appearing in Rogue Nation and Fallout, with Frederick Schmidt also back as Zola Mitsopolis. Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff join the cast of Dead Reckoning - Part One, with Klementieff also confirmed for Part Two. While we have no details on Klementieff’s character yet, director Christopher McQuarrie described Atwell as a “force of nature” who has ambiguous loyalties.
Simon Pegg’s Benji is set to return, as is Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittredge, with Czerny making his first appearance since the original 1996 film. Vanessa Kirby is back as Alanna Mitsopolis, sister of Zola, after first appearing in Fallout. Esai Morales will be playing the unknown antagonist of both upcoming films, replacing Nicholas Hoult, who dropped out for scheduling conflicts. Shea Wigham is also set to play an unspecified role in both films.
McQuarrie has also revealed many new players set to join the cast. These include Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Charles Parnell, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Rob Delaney. Their characters are all still undisclosed. Audiences can reasonably expect additional cast announcements, as well as confirmation of existing cast members’ roles, to follow in the coming months before the release.
Release Date
Attempting to follow the release date of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One may cause a whiplash sort of feeling among viewers. In early 2019, it was to release on July 23, 2021, with Part Two set for the following summer on August 5, 2022. However, one month into the COVID-related shutdowns of 2020, the releases of Part One and Part Two were pushed back to November 19, 2021, and November 4, 2022, respectively. Another rescheduling pushed the dates to May 27, 2022, and July 7, 2023. Part One was delayed once more to September 30, 2022, before finally finding its current date of July 14, 2023. Part Two will follow the next summer, on June 28, 2024.
Interestingly, the previous May 27, 2022 release date is currently held by Top Gun: Maverick, another action thriller and the long-awaited sequel to Cruise's original 1986 film.