While Paramount's highly anticipated
Mission: Impossible 7 was the first major upcoming blockbuster to delay production due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,
shutting down their entire three-week Italy shoot in February, it appears Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have found a way to resume filming while also making sure the cast and crew remain safe.
Daily Mail is now reporting that production has officailly moved to a test track in Dunsfold, a village in Surrey, England, where Cruise was spotted performing some high octane stunts on a motorcycle, including an insane wheelie, earlier yesterday.
The 3x Academy Award-nominated actor then filmed a number of wild car and helicopter scenes in what appears to be an extended chase sequence that will feature multiple vehicles and also involve franchise newcomer Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger), who was spotted filming alongside Cruise in an orange MINI.
Following the outdoor shoot, the Mission team is expected to move to Buckinghamshire's Pinewood Studios to film additional sequences, but it remains to be seen how much longer they'll be able to continue on with the pandemic worsening in the United Kingdom. Fellow 2021 films that were shooting in the U.K., including Jurassic World: Dominion, The Matrix 4 and Fantastic Beasts 3, have all already been put on pause for the time being.
The cast is headlined by Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick) as IMF ace Ethan Hunt, as well as fellow returning stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Fallout), who is set to reprise her role as Ilsa Faust, and Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible - Fallout), who reprises his role as Benji Dunn. 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). Henry Czerny (Sharp Objects) has also been confirmed to reprise his role as Eugene Kittridge from the first film.
No word yet on who will actually make up Ethan Hunt's team for his seventh and eighth adventures, but it's more probable than not that a combination of Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Jeremy Renner (William Brandt), Angela Bassett (Erica Sloane), Vanessa Kirby (White Widow), Paula Patton (Jane Carter) and/or Maggie Q (Zhen Lei) will also be back in some capacity.
Both sequels are expected to film back-to-back, with Mission: Imposssible 7 set to light the fuse in theaters on July 23, 2021 while its sequel, Mission: Impossible 8, will open the following summer on August 5, 2022.