Nicholas Hoult Joins 7th and 8th ‘Mission Impossible’ Films as Antagonist

With Paramount preparing for two new Mission Impossible films within the next few years, it was expected that some new additions would join Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force. Fortunately, director Chris McQuarrie announced a new casting for the upcoming films on Instagram: Mad Max: Fury Road and X-Men actor, Nicholas Hoult.

McQuarrie’s Instagram post featured a picture of Hoult with the caption, “Care to raise a little hell?,” to which Hoult replied, “Though why stop at a little?” It stated that Hoult will be playing the next film’s main antagonist and will be appearing alongside a few other new actors including Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff and Fast and Furious’ Shea Whigham. Also returning is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, though it has not been confirmed whether Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames will return as Benji and Luthor.

Each of the Mission Impossible film had an exclusive actor that ended up playing a key role in Ethan Hunt’s missions. This included Jeremy Renner being one of Hunt’s major teammates in Ghost Protocol just a few months prior to becoming Hawkeye andfacing off against the Man of Steel himself, Henry Cavill, in Fallout. It’s not surprise they got a former X-Men actor like Nicholas Hoult to play a major role considering these previous castings. Since Hoult is expected to be the antagonist of both films, it is clear that McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have major plans for him as a part of this franchise’s future.

Mission Impossible 7 is set for release July 23rd 2021 and Mission Impossible 8 will follow on August 5th 2022.