Twitter exploded this past week when the trailer for the new Mission: Impossible sequel (with the ludicrously long title Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One) was leaked! The trailer had everything one could want from an MI film—car chases, sword fights, Rebecca Ferguson in an eye patch, explosions, Tom Cruise using his body as a crash test dummy, and did I mention Rebecca Ferguson in an eye patch??
But, alongside the over-the-top stunt work, we also got a little peek at all of the new and returning characters that will be attempting to either blow up or help Tom Cruise’s iconic IMF character. So let’s dust off our latex face masks, pull on our tactile-necks, and dig back into the trenches of the Mission Impossible universe.
Where we last left off
Not that it particularly matters—because no one is watching the Mission Impossible franchise for the plot—but when last left Hunt and the IMF crew, he had just finished stopping Solomon Lane (head of The Syndicate) from exploding nuclear warheads and contaminating all of the water on the Asian continent, or something. Lane was turned over to MI6, Henry Cavill’s traitorous Walker was presumably killed in a helicopter explosion, and Angela Bassett’s Sloane was going to be made the new secretary of the IMF. Of course, that was back in 2018, and things can change abruptly in Spy-land!
Returning characters
Obviously, Tom Cruise is back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt! And he seems to be in full form as we watch him race through tiny European streets in tinier European cars, sprinting across a runaway train, and riding a motorcycle off a cliff! This is what the Mission Impossible franchise is all about! We don’t come for the plot, we come for Cruise doing increasingly dangerous and mindblowing stuntwork!
The rest of Hunt’s IMF squad is also back, which means we will get more of Simon Pegg as technical field agent Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames as Hunt’s original team member (going back to 1996!), and hacker, Luther Stickell. We will also see the return of one of Twitter’s favorite girlfriends, Rebecca Ferguson, as MI6 agent and Hunt ally, Ilsa Faust! And gird your loins everyone, because in some shots she’s wearing an eyepatch. And on the villainous side, Vanessa Kirby is returning as the White Widow!
The trailer also revealed the return of a surprising ghost from Hunt’s past. Henry Czerny is back as Eugene Kittridge. Kittridge was the IMF director in the very first Mission Impossible film (all the way back in the olden days of 1996). In the first film, Kittridge was convinced that Hunt was the mole after the “NOC List” (a list of all the spies and their aliases around the globe). Hunt escaped his capture in a very normal way by smashing his explosive gum against an aquarium wall and escaping through the water and fish. And based on this trailer, it would seem that Kittridge and Hunt are still at odds. Is Kittridge back in charge of the IMF or has he finally gone rogue?
New faces
Joining the franchise with this film, we have Esai Morales as a potential antagonist (we see him sword fighting with Ferguson across a bridge in one quick shot), along with Captain Carter herself—Hayley Atwell! Morales’ character name has not yet been revealed, and all we know of Atwell’s character is that her name is “Grace” and that according to an interview given on the Light the Fuse podcast, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie described her as “a destructive force of nature!”
Shea Wigham (The Wolf of Wall Street) will also be joining the fun as Jasper Briggs, a man trying to hunt down Hunt across this film and the next. According to EW he let slip that “you’ll see over the course of seven and eight why I’m trying to track Ethan Hunt. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever got a chance to be a part of.”
Other new cast members include Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Carey Elwes (The Princess Bride), comedian Rob Delaney, Mar Gatiss (Sherlock), and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones). Nothing is known about their characters yet, but stay tuned for more information as we get closer to 2023 and the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One!
(via EW, image: Paramount)
