Three years after screening “Top Gun: Maverick” at the Cannes Film Festival, Tom Cruise has returned to the French Riviera to showcase his latest blockbuster stunt extravaganza, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”
Directed and co-written by frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, the eighth and latest installment in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is a direct sequel to 2023’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning.” That film introduced viewers to new characters like Hayley Atwell’s Grace, Esai Morales’ villainous Gabriel, Greg Tarzan Davis’ Degas, Pom Klementieff’s skilled assassin Paris and Shea Whigham’s Jasper Briggs. Those characters and actors are all set to return, once again, in “The Final Reckoning.”
They are accompanied in it by “Mission: Impossible” newcomers Holt McCallany (“Mindhunter”), Janet McTeer (“Ozark”), Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”), Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”), Katy O’Brian (“Twisters”) and Tramell Tillman (“Severance”), as well as returning franchise veterans like Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Ving Rhames and Angela Bassett.
As a film series, “Mission: Impossible” has always attracted A-list talent, but “The Final Reckoning” is shaping up to be its most star-studded entry to date. Cruise was joined Wednesday by some of his “Final Reckoning” co-stars on the Cannes red carpet for the film.
Its glamorous screening today comes just a few days after a select group of critics and industry insiders were allowed to start sharing some of their early opinions about the highly anticipated, 170-minute-long blockbuster.
Following its Cannes premiere, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is set to be released nationwide in the U.S. on Friday, May 23.
