Following an extended pandemic-fueled production shut down, cameras are finally rolling on Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 7 and along with the announcement comes a jaw-dropping photo from director Chris McQuarrie, showcasing one of the film's stunning shooting locations and possibly teasing one of the many stunts Ethan Hunt (Cruise) will attempt to pull off come November 2021.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Paramount was forced to abruptly halt pre-production on the film's Italy shoot back in November, sending crew members back home to their respective countries, but now, after weeks of quarantining and ensuring the proper safety measures have been installed, it looks like Cruise and company can finally start shooting, with their production schedule expected to last through May.
McQuarrie labels his post "Day 1," marking the official start of principal photography, but prior to this, Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell did film - or, at least, rehearse - parts of the sequel's high-octance opening sequence at a test track in Surrey, England back in March.
Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 are headlined by Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick) as IMF ace Ethan Hunt, as well as fellow returning stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Fallout) as Ilsa Faust, Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible - Fallout) as Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible - Fallout) as Luther Stickell, and Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Fallout) as the White Widow. Newcomers to the storied action franchise include Hayley Atwell (Avengers: Endgame), Pom Klementieff (Avengers: Endgame), Shea Whigham (Joker) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Dark Phoenix), who is rumored to be playing the villain. Henry Czerny (Sharp Objects) has also been confirmed to reprise his role as Eugene Kittridge from the first film.
There isn't much information regarding who else will make up Ethan Hunt's team for his seventh and eighth adventures, but fans still holding out hope that some combination of Jeremy Renner (William Brandt), Angela Bassett (Erica Sloane), Paula Patton (Jane Carter) and/or Maggie Q (Zhen Lei) will also return. There have also been rumblings that the likes of Henry Cavill (August Walker) and Alec Baldwin (Alan Hunley) may also be back in some capacity as McQuarrie recently teased, "Any character, dead or alive, is fair game to return."
Both sequels are expected to film back-to-back, with Mission: Impossible 7 set to light the fuse in theaters on November 19, 2021, while its sequel, Mission: Impossible 8, will open the following fall on November 4, 2022.