'Mission: Impossible 7' Won't Feature Angela Bassett After All Due To The Pandemic

Maybe we got a little greedy. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is one of the best franchise sequels in years for many obvious reasons, but in no small part due to the top-to-bottom joys of watching that ensemble crash against one another in the most unpredictable ways. With the exception of some pivotal character deaths, we were hoping that as much of the cast as possible would be returning for the sequels.

However, one relatively minor but key member from Fallout will no longer be appearing in director Chris McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible 7, as Angela Bassett's Erika Sloane will be sitting things out this time around. And we have COVID to blame for it.

While making the rounds for her latest action movie Gunpowder Milkshake (of which she is one of the clear highlights), the actress confirmed to Collider that the pandemic disrupted the plans for her return in the sequel:

"I can't tease anything about Mission: Impossible 7 except that, well, COVID took me out, literally. Or kept me out, how about that? So that's all I know about that, but maybe I'll be able to tease 8 when that comes along."

COVID affected countless movie release dates and delayed many films in production (including this one), but more importantly it took a massive toll on millions of people worldwide. In the grand scheme of things, being prevented from seeing more of Bassett's CIA director obviously isn't the biggest deal...but because we're messy and live for drama, it can't help but feel like a disappointment anyway. Here's hoping the always-shifting nature of this franchise will allow for her return at some point down the road.

Mission: Impossible 7 may now be sadly Bassett-less, but that doesn't mean that McQuarrie is skimping on the remaining cast by any means. Star Tom Cruise would probably rather die than miss out on yet another Ethan Hunt adventure (and based on his increasingly dangerous stunts, that's not exactly something he's shying away from anyway), and joining him and the usual crew will be Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Stranger Things), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Rob Delaney (Catastrophe, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), Hayley Atwell (Captain America, Black Mirror), and most surprisingly, Henry Czerny reprising his role as Kittredge from the very first film.

The currently-untitled Mission: Impossible 7 is set for a May 27, 2022 release.