Earlier this year, Mission: Impossible 7 (subtitle forthcoming) was one of the first big international productions to shut down following the outbreak of the coronavirus. It didn’t help, of course, that filming was about to commence on an elaborate chase sequence in Venice, one of the early epicenters of the disease. The production has been up and running for a few weeks now, with several epic stunts being filmed in Norway (where a small sliver of Mission: Impossible – Fallout was filmed). Now Mission: Impossible 7 is back in Italy, doing what they do best – causing mischief.

The Associated Press caught footage of stars Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell filming portions of a car chase in Rome (and Cruise, of course, stopping to wave to fans that had gathered nearby). The sequence they were filming seems to show Cruise pulling Atwell out of a wrecked police car (a BMW, naturally). Earlier paparazzi photos showed part of the chase that had Cruise handcuffed to Atwell, which should be a fun wrinkle. In the footage you can see writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who returns after helming Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Fallout (he also worked on the script for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood (also returning from the previous two installments) conferring with Cruise. Also Cruise has the shortest hair style he’s had since the very first movie, which is exciting.

mission-impossible-7-8-simon-pegg
Image via Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible 7, which also stars returning cast members Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg (who has also been captured in some paparazzi photos, working hard in Rome), Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and, returning from the first film, Henry Czerny as IMF boss Kittridge. Joining Atwell in the new-to-the-franchise space are Shea Whigham and Esai Morales (both of whom were a part of the Norway train chase shoot), with Morales rumored to be the movie’s big bad (taking over a role that had previously been assigned to Nicholas Hoult) and Pom Klementieff. So, yes, this is a truly all-star affair.

Currently the film is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2021, which seems optimistic, especially because Mission: Impossible 8 is scheduled for November 4, 2022. But if anybody can pull off the impossible, it’s this team.