‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Replaces Nicholas Hoult With Esai Morales As The Villain
Nicholas Houlthas been steadily carving out a fascinating niche for himself as a charismatic, scenery-chewing antagonist, which made his casting as theMission: Impossible 7villain feel like a fitting next step for the young British actor. But due to production delays for theChristopher McQuarrie-directed action sequel amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Hoult has been replaced withEsai Morales. The star ofNYPD Blue, La Bamba, andOzarktakes over the role of theMission: Impossible 7villain, for which character details still remain a mystery.
Deadline reports that Esai Morales has joined the cast ofMission: Impossible 7, taking over the role of the villain formerly played by Nicholas Hoult, who was cast as the Big Bad earlier this year.
The outlet reports that the production delays for the seventh installment of the acclaimedMission: Impossiblefranchise — which, like all productions around the world, had to shut down filming due to the coronavirus pandemic —put Hoult in conflict with another commitment.Mission: Impossible 7is due to restart production in late summer or early fall, according to Deadline.
This is an unfortunate loss for theMission: Impossibleseries, which had yet to have as young a villain as Hoult, and none with his particular maliciously foppish energy that he’s perfected in recent turns inThe GreatandThe Favourite, and somewhat of an odd replacement with Morales. The late-50s Latinx actor is a very different choice than the 30-year-old British actor, and though he’s made his mark on television with shows likeNYPD BlueandOzark, he doesn’t have quite the same name recognition as Hoult. We still admittedly don’t know what the villain ofMission: Impossible 7will be like, so it’s possible that McQuarrie will tweak the character to better suit Morales' talents.
Mission: Impossible 7is set to be released onNovember 19, 2021, pushed back four months by Paramount due to the pandemic.Mission: Impossible 8is set to follow onAugust 5, 2022.Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson,Simon Pegg,Ving Rhames,Henry CzernyandVanessa Kirbyare set to reprise their roles in the series, joined by and newcomersHayley Atwell,Shea Whigham, andPom Klementieff.
