‘Mission: Impossible 8’ Bringing Back Unexpected Character

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is bringing back another deep-cut character from the original movie. As the franchise prepares to wrap up with its finale film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, writer Christopher McQuarrie revealed that actor Rolf Saxon, who played William Donloe in the original film, will be returning to next year’s action flick. 

Fans will remember Donloe as the CIA analyst from the first Mission: Impossible who is in charge of watching highly-classified documents before Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt drops down from the ceiling using a cable to steal them in the film’s iconic scene. McQuarrie revealed on Instagram Wednesday that fans will once again get to check in with Donloe, who was promptly fired from his position after Hunt’s successful mission and reassigned to a polar substation in Alaska, during Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. Sharing a photo of Saxon’s character, who is now sporting a beard decades after the first film, McQuarrie captioned the post cryptically, “And Rolf Saxon… #MissionImpossible #DeadReckoning.” 

Saxon isn’t the only familiar Mission: Impossible face rejoining the franchise as it prepares to wrap up next year. The seventh film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, is bringing back Alanna Mitsopolis, the black-market arms dealer and daughter of Max Mitsopolis whom fans met in the first Mission: Impossible film in 1996. Played at the time by Vanessa Redgrave, the role will be reprised by Vanessa Kirby. 

Henry Czerny is also reprising his role as Eugene Kittridge, the former director of the IMF whose mysterious return to the picture after appearing in Mission: Impossible is sure to turn things on their head. The film also stars Hayley Atwell, Shea Wigham, Frederick Schmidt and Esai Morales, who plays the villain. Pom Klementieff, Rob Delaney, Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Charles Parnell, Greg Davis, Marcin Dorociński, Lampros Kalfuntzos, Mariela Garriga and Antonio Bustorff are also featured in the cast.

New to the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two cast is Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, whom McQuarrie announced earlier this month would be joining the cast, sharing a similar photo to Saxon’s on Instagram. The details of the role the Emmy-winning actress will play have yet to be revealed. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is set to premiere in theaters on July 14, 2023, while the final film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, is scheduled to debut less than a year later on June 28, 2024.