Danielle Solzman
Christopher McQuarrie is returning to write and direct Tom Cruise and company in another pair of films in the Mission: Impossible franchise.
https://twitter.com/chrismcquarrie/status/1084958567856168961
Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 pic.twitter.com/V6SNvZx2La
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) January 15, 2019
The news comes just one day after McQuarrie accepted the award for Best Action Movie during the Critics’ Choice Awards. Since taking over the director’s chair from Brad Bird, McQuarrie has directed two of the best reviewed films of the series. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) is currently sitting on 93%. Meanwhile Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the best reviewed film at 97%. The film was so well-received by critics this summer. In fact, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote that Tom Cruise should be considered for an Oscar nomination. Outside of maybe Harrison Ford, no actor in their right mind would perform these stunts in the film.
Let’s put Tom Cruise’s stuntwork aside for a moment. McQuarrie returning means that we’re getting a seventh and eighth film of the franchise. Peter Graves starred as James Phelps in Mission: Impossible when it aired on television from 1966-1973. In 1996, the franchise was rebooted with Tom Cruise starring as Ethan Hunt. While the second film was a step back in the franchise, the recent three have it back on proper footing.
Jack Ryan may get rebooted with a new actor every few years, there’s only been one Ethan Hunt. I’m not going to speculate as to whether or not the eighth film will mark the end of the road. This being said, franchise star Tom Cruise isn’t getting any younger. How long can he keep performing his own stunts? The actor will turn 60 in 2022. In the meantime, two more films are on their way.
