Vanessa Kirby returning for Mission: Impossible sequels

In a recent interview with Glamour Magazine UK, Emmy Award nominee Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Hobbs & Shaw) has officially confirmed that she is set to reprise her role as Alanna Mitsopolis/White Widow in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming action sequels Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 which are set to premiere on 2021 and 2022, respectively. The British actress’ White Widow character first appeared in 2018’s Mission: Impossible-Fallout.

Kirby has also revealed that she will soon be undergoing training for the Mission: Impossible sequels after recently wrapping up filming for her upcoming drama film Pieces of a Woman with Shia LaBeouf. “I just wrapped filming a movie (Pieces of a Woman) about a couple who lose a baby with Shia LaBeouf who is now one of my best friends – I love him so much. It was extremely intense and very dark so going into training for Mission Impossible is slightly going to release it all.”

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Joining Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell are returning Mission: Impossible alums Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Simon Pegg (Ready Player One), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) and Henry Czerny (Ready or Not) along with newcomers Shea Whigham (Joker), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Avengers: Infinity War).

Following the large critical and commercial success of the past two installments, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie signed a new deal with Paramount to return to write and direct the next two installments, turning down other studio offers to continue his long-running partnership with franchise star Tom Cruise. Skydance Media, who joined the franchise with the fourth installment, Ghost Protocol, will be returning to produce the next two entries.

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The Mission: Impossible franchise spans almost 25 years and six films, starting off with modest critical and major box office success in the first two films before launching its lead protagonist into grittier and more explosive stories, each film getting progressively better reviews than its predecessor, with the most recent installment, Fallout, earning the highest reviews for both the franchise and the action genre, currently maintaining a 97% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes while also acquiring the highest box office gross of the franchise at over $790 million worldwide.