In one of the most awesome bits of casting news in months, actor Henry Czerny is returning to the “Mission: Impossible” franchise for its upcoming seventh and eighth entries.

Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie confirmed the news on Twitter today, posting a shot of Czerny with the caption “There is no escaping the past… #MI7MI*”.

The Canadian actor played IMF director Eugene Kittridge in the very first “Mission: Impossible” back in 1996, serving as a foil for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt for much of that film. The character hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

Czerny himself broke out in the mid 1990s with this role and others such as “Clear and Present Danger” and “The Ice Storm” and has consistently worked in film and TV since. Most recently he appeared in Netflix’s “When We Rise,” HBO’s “Sharp Objects” and the film “Ready or Not”.