Yahoo News Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning recruits Ted Lasso star to join Tom Cruise
Has Ethan met his match?
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning has recruited Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham to join Tom Cruise on his next adventure.
The British actor of stage and screen has been confirmed to star in the upcoming installment of the action franchise, with director Christopher McQuarrie breaking the news.
Read more: Tom Cruise's most daring stunts
In a social media post on Saturday, March 11, McQuarrie shared a photo of Waddingham on set, looking out into the distance in a baseball cap at some kind of base centre.
He simply wrote alongside it: "And Hannah Waddingham… #Godspeed#DeadReckoning.”
While this gives away practically nothing about who she plays and what her involvement is, it's certainly enough to get fans hyped for what's to come.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning is being split into two parts – with the first dropping on July 14, 2023.
Read more: Ted Lasso season 3 review: Jason Sudeikis and co score again as heartwarming tale continues
The second half will drop in 2024, and it's been widely reported this will be when Waddingham will make her first appearance.
Filming for the eighth installment has been taking place since September last year, with Cruise – who famously badly broke his leg filming a previous scene in the franchise – paragliding off a mountain in a stunt for the movie.
He's also been reported to have skydived more than 500 times to get the right shot for another nailbiting moment.
Read more: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One: Release date, cast, plot for Tom Cruise action movie
The seventh and eighth installments promise an all-star cast – including Hayley Atwell (Captain America), Shea Whigham (Joker), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Simon Pegg (Shaun Of The Dead) and Esai Morales (La Bamba).
It's also believed these will be the last Mission Impossible films, ending Cruise's near-30-year-run. He made his debut as Ethan Hunt back in 1996.
The announcement of Waddingham's new role comes at a busy time for her ahead of the release of Ted Lasso's highly anticipated season 3, which starts to drop on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, March 15.
Waddingham has also been signed up to host the Olivier Theatre Awards in April and will be co-hosting Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals alongside the likes of Graham Norton and Alesha Dixon.
WATCH: Hannah Waddingham to host Eurovision 2023
