Two More ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movies Coming, Christopher McQuarrie Returning to Direct

Two more Mission: Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie are in the works, the two confirmed Monday.

Sources told Variety that McQuarrie will write and direct both film, which will be shot back-to-back. That way, the two films can be out within a year of each other, with the first hitting theaters in summer 2021. The second will open in summer 2022.

Cruise confirmed the dates with a hype video he shared on Twitter after the Variety report. McQuarrie later tweeted “Missions: Accepted.”

Before Cruise can start work on the seventh and eighth films of the franchise, they both have work on other projects to finish. Cruise is finishing up Top Gun: Maverick, which McQuarrie co-wrote and is being directed by Oblivion‘s Joseph Kosinski.

While Crusie films Maverick, McQuarrie will write the script for M:I 7. Sources told Variety filming could start before the end of 2019.

Last year’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout was the highest-grossing film of the franchise so far, taking in $790 million worldwide and earning critical acclaim. The franchise started out with new directors for every film, but considering the back-to-back success of Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout, it looks like Paramount wants to keep McQuarrie in the director’s chair for the rest of Cruise’s adventures as Ethan Hunt.

Cruise and McQuarrie also have a good working relationship. McQuarrie also directed Cruise in the 2012 Jack Reacher movie and was a producer on the 2016 sequel Never Go Back. He was a co-writer on 2008’s Valkyrie, 2017’s The Mummy and 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, all starring Cruise. McQuarrie has an Oscar for his The Usual Suspects screenplay.

In a recent interview with Indiewire, McQuarrie said he hoped to go back to making indie films after working with Cruise so often.

“There’s the stuff I wanted to do since the beginning of my career that I’ve never done — I never actually made any of the movies I set out to make at the beginning of my career,” McQuarrie explained. “And the things that I believe are great stories are — they terrify them, so there’s a moment of decision here for me, as I finish with this movie and potentially with this franchise, to think about where am I going to apply that and I’m finally be in a position to go back to the beginning. I’m in a position now where I have enough saved up that I can go back to being an independent filmmaker and build my career, from a smaller movie, build it out.”

While we wait for the next Mission: Impossible movie, Top Gun: Maverick opens on June 26, 2020.

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