Esai Morales replacing Nicholas Hoult as villain in Mission: Impossible 7

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 is doing a bit of a swap. Esai Morales will be taking over the villain role in the upcoming sequel of the popular franchise, replacing Nicholas Hoult, who was cast as the villain earlier this year.

The culprit here seems to be the COVID-19 pandemic. The Paramount film was close to starting production is Italy when everything was shut down as the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold. The cast and crew of the Christopher McQuarrie-directed film were sent home when Italy became one of the hot spots for the virus and production has been shuttered ever since. The delay has conflicted with another commitment that Hoult had lined up, which is reportedly shooting the second season of Hulu's The Great, so he had to step down from the role which has resulted in Morales stepping in for the villainous turn. 

Tom Cruise will be returning as Ethan Hunt and the film was scheduled to be released on July 23, 2021, but it became obvious that the delay in shooting would make that release date a near-impossible endeavor. The movie was given a new release date of November 19, 2021 to account for the delay and to ensure that the project would not be rushed. The film also stars Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Shea Whigham.

Esai Morales is an accomplished actor in his own right, appearing in 1987's LA BAMBA. Morales has gone on to appear in such shows as Resurrection Blvd, NYPD Blue, Caprica, and Ozark. The MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE gig is a definite movie comeback for Morales as Hoult's loss becomes Morales' gain.

Do YOU think Esai Morales will make a good villain? MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 hits screens on November 19, 2021.