Mission: Impossible 8 Gets Positive Update From Star Hannah Waddingham (2024)

The Mission: Impossible franchise is getting some fresh faces for its upcoming eighth installment. One of those new additions is Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, who recently did her best to not divulge too much about M:I:8.

Speaking to ET at the world premiere of The Garfield Movie, Waddingham shared that she was gearing up to "start shooting again on Mission." Production on the highly-anticipated eighth Mission: Impossible installment was previously delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes, but is now seemingly back on track ahead of its 2025 release date. Waddingham couldn't share too much more than yet out of fear of being "told off," although she did reveal that her character is "a powerful woman" and "quite functional."

Announced in January 2019, Mission: Impossible 8 will conclude the storyline that started in the seventh film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The two-part storyline finds Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and the rest of his IMF team on their most dangerous mission yet, searching for a two-piece cruciform key that can control an advanced AI known as The Entity. Dead Reckoning Part One ended with Ethan obtaining both halves of the key, with M:I:8 expected to focus on the IMF agents' attempts to stop the Entity before it's too late.

Mission: Impossible 8 Adds New Cast Members

Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct M:I:8, having helmed the previous three installments in the franchise — Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning Part One (2023). Besides Cruise, the upcoming sequel will feature the returns of Hayley Atwell (as Grace), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Henry Czerny (Eugene Kittride), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn), Vanessa Kirby (Alanna Mitsopolis), Esai Morales (Gabriel), Pom Klementieff (Paris), Shea Whigham (Jasper Briggs), Greg Tarzan Davis (Degas), and Rolf Saxon (William Donloe).

Actors set to make their franchise debut alongside Waddingham in M:I:8 include Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw), Nick Offerman (Civil War), Janet McTeer (Jessica Jones), Lucy Tulugarjuk (Searchers), Katy O'Brian (The Mandalorian), and Tramell Tillman (Severance).

M:I:8 Remains Without an Official Title

Mission: Impossible 8 was originally titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, but dropped the subtitle in October 2023 to the chagrin of the fandom. The decision to re-title M:I:8 likely stems from Dead Reckoning Part One underperforming at the box office. Although the movie made over $560 million at the box office, the movie's costly production budget ($291M), which doesn't include marketing, means that the movie did not turn a profit for Paramount. With Dead Reckoning currently streaming on Paramount+ without Part One in its title, it looks like the studio is trying to hide the fact that the two films are connected, possibly to avoid turning away potential viewers who don't want to see only half of the story.

The untitled eighth Mission: Impossible film is scheduled to hit theaters on May 23, 2025.

Source: ET

Mission: Impossible 8

Action

Adventure

Thriller

The 8th entry in the long running Mission Impossible franchise.

Director

Christopher McQuarrie

Release Date

May 23, 2025

Cast

Vanessa Kirby , Rebecca Ferguson , Hayley Atwell , Tom Cruise , Hannah Waddingham , Pom Klementieff , Simon Pegg , Shea Whigham

Writers

Bruce Geller , Erik Jendresen , Christopher McQuarrie

Main Genre

Action