A surprising figure from Ethan Hunt’s past is joining in on the action for Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8. Director Christopher McQuarrie has revealed that Henry Czerny will be returning as Eugen Kittridge, a character who made his debut in the first movie in the series and hasn’t appeared since. But we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of Kittridge in the future, as he’ll be back for the next two sequels.
The news was revealed by Christopher McQuarrie, who shared an image of Henry Czerny on social media to confirm the casting news. McQuarrie, who is writing and directing both of the sequels, with Tom Cruise returning as Ethan Hunt, has been doing this throughout the process to confirm who will be in on the action next time around. McQuarrie shared the image of Czerny with the following caption.
“There is no escaping the past… #MI7MI8”
When last we saw Kittridge, the year was 1996 and Tom Cruise was making his first turn as Ethan Hunt in Brian De Palma’s first entry in the series. Kittridge, at that time, was head of the IMF and was something of an adversary for Hunt, as Kitridge suspected he was a mole, putting them at odds with one another for much of the movie. The two eventually got on the same page and focused their efforts on Jim Phelps, played by Jon Voight. The question becomes, where has Kittridge been all of this time? And why is he being brought back into the fold now? The caption seems to suggest Kittridge may have been running away from something all this time.
For the time being, plot details for both sequels remain under wraps. Other returning cast members include Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust and Simon Pegg as Benji. One has to wonder if Angela Bassett’s Erika Sloane, the head of the CIA, will be back as she wound up on the IMF’s side at the end of Fallout. New cast members joining the fold will be Nicholas Hoult (Dark Phoenix), Mad Max: Fury Road}), Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter, Christopher Robin), Shea Whigham (Joker, Boardwalk Empire) and Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Uncut Gems).
Henry Czerny recently appeared in HBO’s limited series Sharp Objects, as well as last year’s critically-heralded horror flick Ready or Not. Some of his other credits include Clear and Present Danger, The Tudors, The A-Team and Quantico. To date, the Mission: Impossible movies have grossed $3.5 billion at the box office across six entries, with 2018’s Fallout bringing in a series-best $787 million. Mission: Impossible 7 will hit theaters on July 23, 2021, and Mission: Impossible 8 is scheduled to arrive on August 5, 2022. Production is slated to begin sometime this year and the movies will shoot back-to-back. Be sure to check out the post from Christopher McQuarrie’s Twitter for yourself.
There is no escaping the past…#MI7MI8pic.twitter.com/FwZCsAlnqE
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) February 1, 2020
