“You could never ever let Angela get away”: Mission Impossible 7 Director Hints Black Panther Actress Will Return to Tom Cruise’s Franchise After Noticeable Absence in Dead Reckoning
Mission: Impossible is one of Tom Cruise’s fans’ most beloved projects. Based on Bruce Geller’s TV series of the same name, the movie franchise’s major focus is Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt. Cruise has also been a producer of the franchise since 1996 which was the year it was started. While the plotline remains the same, fans seem to enjoy watching Hunt fight a new nemesis every once in a while.
Although the newest installment of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible isn’t doing too well at the box office, it remains the eighteenth highest-grossing franchise of all time as it has earned $3.94 billion against a budget of $1.12 billion with just 7 movies. The next movie in this series is a continuation of this year’s Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt Isn’t the Only Recurring Character
Every movie or TV series franchise has some recurring characters apart from the lead itself and Mission: Impossible is no exception to this. So, while Tom Cruise‘s character Ethan Hunt is seen in all of the movies, Simon Pegg’s character Benji Dunn and Ving Rhames’ character Luther Stickell have also been the most recurring characters in the franchise.
Some other characters that have appeared again and again in the series are Michelle Monaghan’s Julia Meade who is Ethan Hunt’s love interest and has appeared in 3 movies so far, and Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust who is a protagonist and has appeared in 3 movies so far. However, Angela Bassett, cast as a CIA director who refuses to put up with Hunt’s antics, Erika Sloane in Mission Impossible: Fallout.
Angela Bassett Doesn’t Appear in the Newest Mission Impossible Movie
Angela Bassett’s character Erika Sloane was one of the strongest characters in Mission Impossible: Fallout due to her unrelenting nature and intolerance for Hunt and his teammates’ twisted ways of working. Fans were looking forward to seeing her again and she was even set to reappear in Dead Reckoning Part 1.
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“But I do have the pages, we’ll just see when I get the ticket to fly and go do my part, but that’s coming up and I’m really excited about it,” the Black Panther actress had said in an interview, but her plans were brought to a standstill by COVID-19 restrictions. However, there are still hopes of her reprising the character.
Christopher McQuarrie Has Teased Erika Sloane’s Return
It’s no secret that the franchise has zero problem replacing CIA directors and leaders so Erika Sloane not returning would not be much of a surprise. However, director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie seems to have plans for her. Recently, he teased saying: “We’re not done with Angela Bassett. Angela is too fabulous, you could never ever let Angela get away, so there’s always a plan in the future…”
According to McQuarrie, Sloane was supposed to be the head of CIA and appear with the many American intelligence officers who were discussing the abilities of the villain Entity in the beginning of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1. While Angela Bassett’s character’s future remains undecided, Tom Cruise is all set to perform one of his dangerous stunts in Dead Reckoning Part 2.
Source: Looper
