Mission: Impossible 8 will take a bit longer than expected to arrive in cinemas — the movie has been pushed back to 2025.
Paramount readjusted its schedule due to the strikes in Hollywood, which prevented filming from resuming. Now, the follow-up to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One needs a little bit more time to finish the shooting, but let's hope there are no more delays.
At least we know Mission Impossible 8 is absolutely happening, despite Mission: Impossible 7's struggles at the box office. It could mark the final mission for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, although writer/director Chris McQuarrie isn't so sure this is the end.
What we do know is that whether or not this is the end of the series, Mission: Impossible 8 will wrap up the epic two-part story started in Dead Reckoning Part One. Will Ethan and the IMF team save the world? We reckon it's likely.
As we wait to find out how the story ends, here's everything you need to know about the next Mission: Impossible movie.
Dead Reckoning 2 release date: When can we expect Mission Impossible 8?
Right now, Mission: Impossible 8 is set to be released in cinemas on May 23, 2025.
The original release date (June 28, 2024) was pushed back a year as Paramount readjusted its schedule to accommodate for the lack of films due to the writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood.
Filming reportedly started on the new movie in March 2022 and after a break to promote Mission: Impossible 7, filming was set to resume in July 2023. That didn't happen due to the strike, and it's not clear how much is left to film.
Depending on how long the strike goes on for, it could be that Paramount is left with no choice but to shift the movie back again.
Dead Reckoning 2 cast: Who's coming back in Mission Impossible 8?
Tom Cruise will, of course, be back as Ethan Hunt, but Mission: Impossible 7 wasn't without its casualties.
Ethan's long-running IMF cohorts Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) will be back, but Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust was killed by Gabriel (Esai Morales) so won't be returning.
There's always a possibility that Ilsa isn't actually dead, but she seemed like a goner to us and the way McQuarrie has been defending the controversial moment suggests she is definitely dead.
"It's a very heroic death for that character. It is not in any way, shape, or form disposable. It's a noble and heroic death," he said. "That, to me, is the hardest thing to find for a character."
Hayley Atwell will be back as Grace, who at the end of Mission: Impossible 7, accepts the choice to join the IMF, while Vanessa Kirby's Alanna Mitsopolis, aka the White Widow, will continue causing havoc for Ethan.
It looked as though Pom Klementieff's Paris would not survive after being stabbed by Gabriel, but she's still breathing at the end after saving Ethan and Grace – so expect her to return and be on the side of the goodies next time.
In fact, Simon Pegg shared a picture of the actress on Instagram in December 2023, teasing her return: "Hard to kill! If you think you’ve seen the last of Paris… think again."
Henry Czerny's Kittridge, Shea Whigham's Jasper Briggs and Greg Tarzan Davis's Degas will all be back as well. Cary Elwes won't return though as Denlinger as Gabriel killed him after finding out where the Sevastapol was buried (more on that in a bit).
We're welcoming back an old face in Mission: Impossible 8 too, as Rolf Saxon reprises his role as CIA analyst William Donloe from the first movie. He was transferred to Alaska which, fortunately, is near where the Sevastopol sub is buried under the ice.
Newcomers to the series in the next movie are Mark Gatiss, Charles Parnell, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham and Lucy Tulugarjuk, but we don't yet know who they're playing and how big a role any of them will have.
We do know though that Mindhunter star Holt McCallany is playing Secretary of Defense Bernstein in the next instalment, while Nick Offerman is playing somebody called Sydney, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dead Reckoning 2 plot: What can we expect from Mission Impossible 8?
We don't have an official synopsis yet for Mission: Impossible 8, but we can gather at least how the next movie will begin.
While Gabriel is the villain of Dead Reckoning, it's fair to say he's not the true antagonist as it's actually an all-powerful AI, often called the "entity".
Whoever controls the entity can basically control the world as it has the power to distort digital data and has already hacked into the world's intelligence network.
The entity was the creation of the US government and they tested it out on a Russian sub called the Sevastopol, merely to see if it could show them where the stealth sub was. Unsurprisingly, the entity went rogue and destroyed the sub.
It's on the Sevastapol that the entity's source code is stored and the only way to access it is with a cruciform key. Luckily, Ethan has said key and at the end of Mission: Impossible 7, he's told by Paris that he needs to find the Sevastopol.
Ethan doesn't know where it is, but intends to find it to destroy the entity which can only be done at its source. Aiming to stop him will be Gabriel who is doing the entity's bidding and, obviously, the entity doesn't want to be destroyed.
This battle between Ethan and Gabriel will form the basis of Mission: Impossible 8 as Ethan knows that Gabriel knows where the Sevastopol is. We imagine there will be a lot more spycraft going on too, but this is where the next movie will start at least.
It explains why Donloe comes back into the series as he's stationed in Alaska, near where the sub is buried in the Bering Sea. Ethan better hope that he doesn't hold a grudge though as it was his fault Donloe is in Alaska in the first place...
Dead Reckoning 2 trailer: Any Mission Impossible 8 footage yet?
Even though Mission: Impossible 8 has been filming, we don't have any footage yet and might not get any until later this year assuming that production has started back up.
For more Mission: Impossible 7 coverage, check out:
• Mission: Impossible 7 review
• How long is Mission: Impossible 7?
• Does Mission: Impossible 7 have a post-credit scene?
• Who was Kittridge, again?
• Is Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible 7?
• How to watch Mission: Impossible 7 right now
• Mission: Impossible 7 resolves mystery about White Widow
• Mission: Impossible 7 ending explained
• Mission: Impossible 7 fails Ilsa Faust
Mission: Impossible 8 is released in cinemas on May 23, 2025.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
