Mission Impossible 7 Set To Feature A Very Surprising Character Return

The return of Han to the Fast & Furious series might be the weekend's most surprising action franchise comeback--but it's not the only one. Production starts this year on Mission Impossible 7 and 8, and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has revealed that Eugene Kittridge, played by actor Henry Czerny, is coming back to the franchise after 24 years.

McQuarrie confirmed the news with a Twitter post, which simply read: "There is no escaping the past...#MI7MI8." Czerny previously appeared as Kittridge in the first Mission: Impossible, which was released way back in 1996. Kittridge was the head of the Impossible Mission Force, who falsely believed that Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt was an enemy mole, and attempted to flush him out, a plan which led to Hunt's entire team getting wiped out. Kittridge has not appeared in any of the subsequent sequels, but it looks like Hunt will get to take care of unfinished business in the next movie. Check McQuarrie's post out below:

McQuarrie is set to write and direct both Mission Impossible 7 and 8, which will be shot back-to-back and released in July 2021 and August 2022 respectively. Cruise will be joined by regular co-stars Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg, with Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Shea Whigham all joining the series for the first time.

In an interview with Empire, McQuarrie admitted that making two movie simultaneously was a daunting prospect. "I pitched the idea of making two movies, and now I have to justify why it's two movies," he said. "You've got to earn that. You've got to make something that swallows the last three movies whole. I'm freaked out now. We've talked ourselves into something. Holy s***."

Before we see more of Ethan Hunt, Cruise will reprise another iconic role this summer--Top Gun's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. The long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, hits theaters in June. Check out the latest trailer, and GameSpot's guide to everything we know so far about Top Gun: Maverick.