Mission: Impossible star Ving Rhames is the only cast member to be in every film in the franchise with Tom Cruise. This will continue with the series’ eighth entry, Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which will be released in United States theaters on May 23, 2025, from Paramount Pictures. Rhames had only praise for talking about his co-star when promoting his new boxing movie Uppercut.
What did Ving Rhames say about working with Tom Cruise?
“Working with the cast and crew and really getting to know and meet Tom Cruise. He really treats his actors and crew very special,” said Rhames to ComingSoon when asked about the highlight of playing Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible franchise.
“So, as I got to know him, he’s the only man that I’ve met in life who doesn’t see color. He told me one time, his son was about eight or nine — he adopted a Black son. His son said to him, ‘Dad, why are you always trying to hold the Black man down?’ So, being able to share that with me was special for me because I’ve never heard that in life before.”
The synopsis for Mission: Impossible 8 reads, “Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.”
The film is directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie. McQuarrie helmed a number of the previous movies in the franchise, including 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, 2018’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout, and 2023’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. He also directed 2000’s The Way of the Gun and 2012’s Jack Reacher.
Along with Tom Cruise, the cast of Mission: Impossible 8 includes Hayley Atwell as Grace, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, Esai Morales as Gabriel, Pom Klementieff as Paris, Mariela Garriga as Marie, Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, Holt McCallany as Bernstein, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman as Sydney, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane, Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs, Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas, Charles Parnell, and Frederick Schmidt.
