Mission: Impossible Director Teases Important Character Return

The Mission: Impossible franchise is known for its twists, turns, and surprises, as any good espionage action movie series should be. The series is also known for bringing back surprise characters at key moments, and apparently director Christopher McQuarrie is planning to continue that tradition with the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7. During the Super Bowl weekend, McQuarrie dropped a new teaser photo for Mission: Impossible 7 on social media, and it not-so-subtly announces that a key character from the original film may be making his return. The character would be Agent Kittridge (actor Henry Czerny), who was was always just one step behind in the chase for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.

In addition to posting a photo of Czerny as Kittridge, Chris McQuarrie also added the ominous caption of “There is no escaping the past…”, which only raises new questions about what Mission: Impossible 7 will be all about.

Christopher McQuarrie made Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible – Fallout into big successes, which also streamline the series into a much more serialized storyline. Now McQuarrie has been tapped to do both Mission: Impossible 7 & 8, which are rumored to be the possible two-part ending for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. McQuarrie teasing major connections to Brian De Palma’s original Mission: Impossible could be a major tease to fans that the franchise could be bringing back another major foe for Ethan Hunt.

In the original Mission: Impossible, it’s revealed that Ethan IMF team leader and mentor Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) faked his death and killed Ethan’s team, framing Ethan for the crime. Jim seemed to meet a grisly end (being crushed by a helicopter in a train tunnel), but you never know. There’s also a couple femme fatales from the De Palma film that could strike back, including Jim’s wife / co-conspirator Claire (Emmanuelle Béart), who seemed to die of a gunshot wound – or Max (Vanessa Redgrave), the black market arms dealer Ethan busted. Max turned informant and eventually became a philanthropist, while her daughter Alanna (Vanessa Kirby) was an ally to Ethan and the IMF in capturing Solomon Lane. but again: who knows if old beefs are truly settled?

Mission: Impossible 7 is scheduled to hit theaters on July 23, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8 is slated for August 25, 2022.