‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Could Bring Back Alec Baldwin and Henry Cavill

The next two Mission: Impossible movies, to be filmed back-to-back for release in 2021 and 2022 by writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, are rumored to see the return of Alec Baldwin‘s Impossible Mission Force secretary Alan Hunley and Henry Cavill‘s rogue CIA agent August Walker via flashbacks.

THR claims McQuarrie is “said to be considering” having both characters return after — spoilers — they each were killed in last summer’s Fallout. As the scripts have yet to be written, THR notes, things could change and both films could scrap the idea.

Fallout marked Cavill’s first outing in the long-running Tom Cruise-led franchise. Baldwin first appeared in 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, also co-written and directed by McQuarrie.

It was learned earlier this week studio Paramount Pictures tapped McQuarrie to return for his third and fourth Mission: Impossible entries, rumored to be 56-year-old Cruise’s sendoff from the franchise first launched in 1996.

McQuarrie later disputed claims he took the Mission: Impossible deal over offers from competitor Warner Bros., who THR said were “opening up their pantries” in an attempt to “seduce” the star filmmaker to their DC Comics film universe.

McQuarrie wrote on Twitter such stories “are not accurate.”

It was previously believed McQuarrie could again team with frequent collaborator Cruise on Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern reboot, where Cruise was the reported frontrunner to star as veteran Green Lantern Corps member Hal Jordan.

Ironically, it was Cavill’s commitments to Fallout that lead to some troubles on Warner’s Justice League: the Superman star, who boasted a genuine mustache in McQuarrie’s flick, was prohibited from shaving when he was tasked to return for Justice League reshoots under replacement director Joss Whedon.

Warner Bros. was then forced to digitally remove Cavill’s mustache, leaving his Superman looking freakish and unnatural — a fallout of its own that has since proved the source for rib-poking online.

McQuarrie tweeted in July 2017 it was Cavill’s action-heavy stunts on Fallout that meant he couldn’t shave Walker’s mustache, noting it would take “a liberal dose of staples” to keep a faux one tethered to Cavill’s face.

The untitled Mission: Impossible 7 and an eighth film are marked to open in 2021 and 2022, respectively.