When Mission: Impossible 7 starts production in late summer or early fall, I expect that you will see that Esai Morales has joined the cast. In place of Nicholas Hoult, who was cast in a villain role earlier this year.'

The Paramount and Skydance co-production was close to starting production in Italy when the world shut down, and that included the Christopher McQuarrie-directed film which will see Tom Cruise reprise his Ethan Hunt spy character. The delay put Hoult in conflict with another commitment. This is going to happen often as films resume production with talent that has contracted out fall slots with other pictures, when there was no thought about a pandemic.

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Nicholas Hoult is no longer accepting the mission. The next #MissionImpossible movie now has a new actor playing the villain. Head to link in bio for more details on the move. (📸:@gettyentertainment)

A post shared by Hollywood Reporter (@hollywoodreporter) on May 21, 2020 at 11:04am PDT

Mission: Impossible 7 was originally set to open in theaters on July 23, 2021 but has since been redacted to Nov. 19, 2021, with the Fallout cast returning alongside franchise newcomers Shea Whigham, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff. Mission: Impossible 8 will now open Nov. 4, 2022.