Mission: Impossible 8 Star on Tom Cruise’s Warning After Wrapping Filming (2024)

Shea Whigham gave Tom Cruise yet another reason to run, as he so often does, in last summer’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning. Whigham portrayed the determined Jasper Briggs, who was desperately trying to bring in Ethan Hunt (Cruise) during the events of Dead Reckoning. Whigham's Community enforcer will return in Mission: Impossible 8, but the actor reveals the production still has a long ways to go, according to what Cruise told Whigham while they had dinner together. And Whigham revealed that on Thursday, June 6 (per The Hollywood Reporter):

Whigham also says that while having dinner with Cruise, the Hollywood A-lister warned the actor there's still so much to be done to complete the follow-up to Dead Reckoning. It seems, that while Whigham’s part might be wrapped up, Mission: Impossible 8 still has some significant hurdles to clear before the sequel is ready for its 2025 theatrical release.

Mission: Impossible 8

Action

Adventure

The 8th entry in the long running Mission Impossible franchise. Starring Tom Cruise and Vanessa Kirby.

Release Date

May 23, 2025

Director

Christopher McQuarrie

Cast

Tom Cruise , Rebecca Ferguson , Vanessa Kirby , Hayley Atwell , Simon Pegg , Ving Rhames

Writers

Bruce Geller , Christopher McQuarrie

See Also

Mission: Impossible II | Rotten Tomatoes

Studio

Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media, TC Productions

Franchise

Mission: Impossible

Whigham said during the same sit-down.

“We did this scene between Tom and myself. And then Tom said, ‘We’re going to go out to dinner.’ So, we went out to dinner when I was done, and then Tom said, ‘Do you realize that we come out one year from today? And it’s going to be a sprint to finish the f—ing thing.’

What he's doing now... people are going to be floored. He wants to make this one like an adventure film, and he and McQuarrie have an idea of what they want to do with it. So, it’s going to be amazing.”

Shea Whigham ‘Wanted to Honor Midnight Run' in Mission: Impossible 7

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes both played their respective parts in Mission: Impossible 8's release date being pushed all the way to 2025.

And while very little is known about the follow-up to Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Shea Whigham is excited about reprising the role of Jasper Briggs. During his first stint portraying The Community's enforcer, Whigham was all about honoring films like Midnight Run and The Fugitive as the actor approached the material. Whigham said in an interview with Slash Film:

“I wanted to honor the Midnight Run of it all, The Fugitive of it all. I'm big on paying homage to films that I love, and so we sprinkled some of that in there and I just wanted to make Briggs a wild card. By any means possible, he tried to take Ethan in, with it being real and personal underneath.”

Whigham said in the same interview:

“I told them that there has to be a reason why I'm chasing [Ethan]. Otherwise, it's not going to play for two and a half hours, to have egg on my face in every country, that I just miss him. So, I just wanted to ratchet that up without explaining anything. I didn't want to explain it, other than going into, possibly, the next one.”

Despite Dead Reckoning struggling at the box office during the summer of 2023, Mission: Impossible 8 pushed forward. For now, though, while Tom Cruise continues to work on the next big-screen adventure of Ethan Hunt and the IMF, Whigham is coming fresh off his latest movie, Lake George, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday night (June 9).