Entertainment Weekly has begun pulling back the curtain on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, revealing a new gallery of stills offering an exciting first look at many of the movie's lead stars. Among them are franchise newcomer Hayley Atwell and fellow MCU star Pom Klementieff (who we now know will play one of the sequel's antagonists).
Talking to the site, director Christopher McQuarrie shed new light on the latter's relationship with Esai Morales' mysterious big bad. "She is somebody who, at the start of our story, is partnered with Esai and represents this malevolent force that Ethan is opposed to," the filmmaker teases.
The director, who also co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick, would go on to say that he's ready to take a breather after an intense few years that would make even Ethan Hunt proud.
"This has been the most unbelievable adventure and the most unbelievable continuum between, in some state or another, working on Top Gun, Mission 7, and Mission 8, all simultaneously," McQuarrie notes.
"Top Gun is now behind us, and we're in a place where Mission 7 is almost out in theaters, and it's so surreal to think that, in July, I will be working [on] one movie at a time. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!"
The seventh chapter in this iconic Mission franchise and the third directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Dead Reckoning Part One stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, and Frederick Schmidt. Newcomers include Atwell, Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, and Cary Elwes.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is set to be released in theaters on July 14, 2023. Paramount Pictures previously announced that Dead Reckoning Part Two will follow on June 28, 2024.
You can see the full gallery of new Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One stills by following the link in the Tweet below.