Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise, Tolkien) has signed on to join Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie (Rogue Nation, Fallout), who is developing a pair of Mission: Impossible movies, made the announcement on his Instagram account. You can check out the post below!
In the post, McQuarrie asks Hoult if he would “care to raise a little hell?” and Hoult replied: “Love to. Though why stop at a little?”
In addition to star Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), Shea Whigham (Joker), and Haley Atwell (Avengers: Endgame), Hoult joins returning cast members Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Simon Pegg (Ready Player One) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction).
RELATED: Shea Whigham Joins Next Two Mission: Impossible Films
Following the large critical and commercial success of the past two installments, writer/director McQuarrie signed a new deal with Paramount to return to write and direct the next two installments, turning down other studio offers to continue his long-running partnership with franchise star Tom Cruise. Skydance Media, who joined the franchise with the fourth installment, Ghost Protocol, will be returning to produce the next two entries.
The Mission: Impossible franchise spans almost 25 years and six films, starting off with modest critical and major box office success in the first two films before launching its lead protagonist into grittier and more explosive stories, each film getting progressively better reviews than its predecessor, with the most recent installment, Fallout, earning the highest reviews for both the franchise and the action genre, currently maintaining a 97% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes while also acquiring the highest box office gross of the franchise at over $790 million worldwide.
Paramount has dated the next Mission: Impossible film for July 23, 2021, while the eighth installment will be released on Aug. 5, 2022.
