Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis in the MCU, has officially joined the cast of Mission: Impossible 7 and 8. While a lot of franchises begin to show their age by the time they get to their seventh installment, most would agree the Mission: Impossible films have only continued to improve with time. Last year’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout, for example, was the best-reviewed entry yet, despite being the sixth movie overall. Most of that success can be attributed to the crack team of star Tom Cruise and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, who took over as director starting on 2015’s Rogue Nation.

The pair aren’t done just yet, either, having committed to shooting Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 back to back near the beginning of this year (for release dates in 2021 and 2022). With production slated to get underway in the first half of 2020, McQuarrie is currently in the process of assembling his cast for the two sequels. The films are expected to bring Cruise’s core team back from the last few installments, with Rebecca Ferguson among those confirmed so far. However, they’ll be joined by (at least) two new faces.

McQuarrie took to Instagram to announce Klementieff’s casting for both Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 (as evidenced by the #MI78 hashtag in his post). This makes her the second franchise newcomer confirmed for the films after Hayley Atwell, who formally boarded the sequels back in September. You can check out McQuarrie’s message below.

French-Canadian actor Klementieff is best known for playing Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films (beginning with Vol. 2), in addition to last year’s Avengers: Infinity War and this year’s penultimate Phase 3 movie, Endgame. She’s also slowly, but steadily, begun to make a name for herself beyond the MCU in recent years, between her roles in shows like Black Mirror and indie films like Ingrid Goes West, as well as next month’s much talked-about Safdie Brothers project, Uncut Gems. Needless to say, her star will only continue to rise thanks to her role in the upcoming Mission: Impossible sequels. Specific details are being kept under-wraps for the time being, though McQuarrie does refer to her character in the films as being a “femme fatale” in his post.

Beyond that, there’s a real possibility these next two Mission: Impossible films will serve as the conclusion to Cruise’s run on the franchise (which started all the way back in 1996). As invulnerable as he might seem, even Cruise can only defy the laws of nature for so long, and the fact is he will be 60 years old by the time Mission: Impossible 8 opens in theaters. As such, it would make sense for Cruise and McQuarrie to use Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 as a way to wind the series down and bring Ethan Hunt’s larger journey to a close, before they run out of fresh ideas for what to do with the property. After all, if anyone can bring Hunt’s story to a satisfying conclusion, it’s surely these two.

Source: Christopher McQuarrie

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