Hayley Atwell confirms lead role in Mission: Impossible 7 & 8

Following the announcement earlier this week, actress Hayley Atwell took to Instagram to confirm that she has indeed been cast as the female lead opposite Tom Cruise in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 AND Mission: Impossible 8 which are set to premiere on 2021 and 2022, respectively. This will mark the second blockbuster franchise for Atwell, who gained recognition for her role as Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

She will next be seen in Netflix’s upcoming drama series Criminal and is set to reprise her role as Peggy Carter by lending her voice in Marvel Studios’ forthcoming animated series What If…? for Disney+

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Joining Cruise and Atwell are returning cast members Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Simon Pegg (Ready Player One) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction).

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.