Production on the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 has resumed, with shooting currently underway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Simon Pegg, who will be reprising his role as the IMF technician Benji Dunn, confirmed the news on his social media accounts.
Pegg shared a throwback image on Instagram, which shows him along with his Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol co-stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, and Paula Patton. In the caption, the actor remembers shooting in the UAE in 2010 and confirms he is “back for more 10 and a bit years later” for the seventh installment in the series. Another image posted by Pegg shows fans the files for the central spies in the next Mission: Impossible film.
RELATED: Take a Look Back at Mission: Impossible's Most Impossible Stunts
Apart from Pegg, Cruise will return as Ethan Hunt, performing his own stunts, as usual, Rebecca Ferguson will play Ilsa Faust and Ving Rhames will reprise his role as Luther Stickell. Director Christopher McQuarrie has also been sharing a series of images on his official Instagram account, using the hashtag #MI7MI8. While he didn’t reveal the location of the photographs, the first image reveals what appears to be the Abu Dhabi skyline shrouded in fog, followed by multiple images that seem to be taken in The Empty Quarter or Rub al Khali desert, which covers large parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including Abu Dhabi. The shots show an abandoned playground, a helicopter flying in the desert, and some black and white images of masked men riding horses and camels. One of them is a close-up shot of a masked rider, which has left many of McQuarrie’s followers confused.
Most fans question if the character featured in the image is Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust. Swedish actress Ferguson has also shared an image from the Abu Dhabi desert, which further confirms the news that the cast has reunited. While there is no confirmation whether Cruise is present on set, images of him in Dubai are making the rounds on social media. This isn’t the first time that the Mission: Impossible team is in the UAE. As Pegg’s image revealed, the cast was in Dubai in 2010 to shoot the fourth installment in the series, Ghost Protocol, which led to one of the most iconic scenes in the Mission: Impossible franchise, where Cruise climbed the exterior façade of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
In addition to that, another important action sequence from 2018’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout was shot in Abu Dhabi. At the time, Cruise had worked with the UAE Armed Forces to achieve the epic HALO stunt for the movie. It seems like after facing several setbacks, the upcoming Mission: Impossible movie is on track for its November release. The movie had just started shooting in early 2020 when the first COVID-19 lockdowns were instated and filming had to be paused.
While shooting resumed in the fall of last year, the crew took a break for the holidays after an audio clip of Cruise expressing his anger over crew members breaking COVID-19 protocols went viral. It remains to be seen whether the release date will be pushed further, but there is no confirmation on that matter at the moment. So far, the shoot of the movie has been split between Italy, the UK, and Norway. After the movie’s completion, production on Mission: Impossible 8 is expected to begin.
Mission: Impossible 7 is due to release on November 19, 2021.
MORE: Movies You Forgot Are Still Coming In 2021
Source: Simon Pegg/Instagram