Summary

• Mission: Impossible 8 will feature familiar faces and new challenges for Ethan Hunt's IMF team, including an exciting underwater stunt.
• Despite Tom Cruise's age, he is still committed to performing his own iconic action scenes, including sprinting and hanging off planes.
• The behind-the-scenes photos hint at a potential time jump in Mission: Impossible 8, with Cruise sporting longer hair for the upcoming film.

Various behind the scenes details, photos, and videos have already given audiences major clues for Mission: Impossible 8. Tom Cruise's next, and supposedly last, film as the iconic action hero Ethan Hunt has been in production for quite some time and has undergone several major changes since. Mission: Impossible 8's title change resulted in a new standalone film after it was originally intended to be the second half of the two-part Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, but "Part Two" was officially scrapped by Paramount. Mission: Impossible 8 is currently in post-production and is expected to be released on May 23, 2025.

Mission: Impossible 8 will still be directed by longtime franchise director and Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, who has written the screenplays for some of the biggest action movies of Cruise's career (Edge of Tomorrow, Top Gun: Maverick). While Cruise's incredible passion for his action franchises Mission: Impossible and Top Gun remains essentially unmatched in today's Hollywood, the larger-than-life actor will eventually be forced to part ways with his leading man stunt-heavy status. At 61, Cruise can't realistically be jumping off cliffs on motorbikes or hanging onto the sides of planes in his 70s, even though Cruise has shown no signs of slowing down.

10 Tom Cruise Is Still Performing His Own Iconic Mission: Impossible Run Scenes

Cruise maintains his full commitment to the Ethan Hunt part

It would not truly be a Mission: Impossible movie if Cruise wasn't sprinting at top speed at some point in the film.

One of the biggest reveals from recent behind-the-scenes content is that Cruise is still performing his own iconic running scenes, which have appeared in many of his films outside the Mission: Impossible franchise. It would not truly be a Mission: Impossible movie if Cruise wasn't sprinting at top speed at some point in the film. The 61-year-old Cruise was recently spotted filming on location in England for Mission: Impossible 8 in the full Ethan Hunt character. Cruise was sprinting with blood on his shirt, which offers another out of context clue about what is to come in the next Mission: Impossible movie. Given Cruise's increasing age, it's phenomenal that the actor is still so committed to doing every stunt himself, from sprinting and jumping off cliffs on motorcycles to hanging off of planes.

9 Parts Of Mission: Impossible 8 Will Take Place In London, England

Filming also took place in Derbyshire, England

Of the several locations that are already confirmed for Mission: Impossible 8, London and Derbyshire England are two of the most recent locations added to the list. It's not entirely clear based on the recent behind-the-scenes pictures whether the Mission: Impossible footage captured in Derbyshire is intended to take place there in the actual film. However, with Cruise sprinting on the streets of London with Big Ben clearly in the background, there's little doubt that Hunt will actually be visiting London in Mission: Impossible 8. This is congruent with the filming that took place in London for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol also filmed some of its scenes in England, including the famous underwater scene. In the Mission: Impossible 8 London footage, there appears to be a heavy military presence in the background.

8 Mission: Impossible 8 Will Feature Several Impressive Underwater Stunts

Cruise should outdo his own famous Rogue Nation scene

Knowing Cruise, he is probably gearing up to smash Winslet's record in Mission: Impossible 8.

Cruise has constantly one-upped himself with each new Mission: Impossible movie major stunt, from hanging off the side of an airplane as it takes off in Rogue Nation to climbing up the world's tallest building in Ghost Protocol. Cruise likely plans to succeed his already record-setting underwater scene that once was the longest an actor has ever held their breath underwater during filming. Kate Winslet recently broke Cruise's record in Avatar: The Way of Water after holding her breath underwater while filming for a remarkable 7 minutes and 15 seconds. Knowing Cruise, he is probably gearing up to smash Winslet's record in Mission: Impossible 8. Since several dangerous underwater scenes are already confirmed, it sounds like a safe bet that Cruise will try to reclaim his title when it comes to incredible underwater stunts.

7 Cruise Hung Off An Upside Down Biplane While Filming In South Africa

Cruise famously did a promo while hanging off the plane

One of the wildest confirmed stunts in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 8 will involve Cruise hanging off a biplane in midair, which is easily one of the wildest stunts he or any other major Hollywood actor has ever pulled off. There are reports that also suggest that Cruise will actually be walking on the plane in flight as well, which would be stunning to behold on the silver screen. Just when it seems like it would be impossible for Cruise to outdo himself, especially with a stunt involving a plane, he defies all the odds and comes up with something like this. There are no specific details about why Ethan Hunt will be hanging off a biplane in Mission: Impossible 8, but like in Fallout with the helicopters, he could be pursuing a villain in midair.

6 Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow Is Confirmed To Appear In Mission: Impossible 8

The White Widow has appeared in the last 2 Mission: Impossible films

It's entirely possible that the White Widow could emerge as a potential new love interest for Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible 8.

Behind-the-scenes photos were taken of actress Vanessa Kirby on the Mission: Impossible set in London, providing the first visual evidence that her notable character will appear in the film. With the absence of Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Fuast following her tragic death in Dead Reckoning, it's entirely possible that the White Widow could emerge as a potential new love interest for Ethan Hunt. Similar to Faust, the White Widow has played both friend and foe to Ethan and is one of the most plausible candidates for Hunt to develop a romantic interest for. While she is technically an antagonist in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning, dynamics could quickly change in Mission: Impossible 8 and could pair the two together against the Entity. However, there is also Hayley Atwell's Grace in the romantic picture as well.

5 Simon Pegg Hinted That Pom Klementieff’s Villain Paris Will Make A Return

Paris seemed to have died but lived at the end of Dead Reckoning

Actor Simon Pegg recently made a social media post that confirmed that Pom Klementieff's villain character Paris is set to return in Mission: Impossible 8 after making her franchise debut in Dead Reckoning. The caption for his photo read, "Hard to kill! If you think you’ve seen the last of Paris… think again." Pegg and Klementieff also posted a photo together in which they appear to be in England, indicating that they could have been filming for Mission: Impossible 8. While Paris was nearly killed off at the end of Dead Reckoning, and was a major antagonist to Ethan Hunt, she was hinted to have survived before the end of the movie. She is one of many actors who will return to the Mission: Impossible franchise.

4 Mission: Impossible 8 Filmed In The Arctic Where The Sevastopol Submarine Sunk

This could be the location of a new record-setting underwater scene

One of the very first scenes of Mission: Impossible 8 could feature Ethan and his team in the Arctic, where he could pull off a new record-setting underwater feat.

One of the confirmed locations of Mission: Impossible 8 is in the Arctic where the Sevastopol submarine from the beginning of the movie sunk. Paris reveals to Ethan at the end of Dead Reckoning that the key he has can be used to access the control chamber of the Entity, which is located on the Sevastopol. One of the very first scenes of Mission: Impossible 8 could feature Ethan and his team in the Arctic, where he could pull off a new record-setting underwater feat. It would make the most sense for Ethan to go to the submarine in the first part of Mission: Impossible 8 since it is his biggest lead to stop the Entity at the end of Dead Reckoning, especially if the film is not longer "Part Two" of its predecessor.

3 Rebecca Ferguson Has Little Interest In Returning As Ilsa In Mission: Impossible 8

Her character, Ilsa Faust, died in Dead Reckoning which would make things tricky

Rebecca Ferguson has already expressed that she is not very interested in exploring the far-fetched return of her celebrated character, Ilsa Faust, in Mission: Impossible 8. Ferguson recently told Entertainment Tonight, "Do you remember when we talked about those three picture deals in Hollywood? Well, sometimes those end and actors have the possibility of saying yes or no. So we were at that point and Mission is such a huge dedication, and I've done it, and it's fantastic, and it's amazing and [Christopher McQuarrie] and [Tom Cruise] wrote this incredible character. I want her to go rogue. I'm interested in the dark side. I don't want a team member. It's not interesting to me and I felt like that's where we were heading." Considering that Ferguson's character is pretty clearly dead in Dead Reckoning, Ferguson's decision is for the best.

2 Some Of Mission: Impossible 8 Will Take Place On An Aircraft Carrier In The Adriatic Sea

This will be the third Cruise movie shot on an aircraft carrier