One of the best female action stars of the year will return for another Mission: Impossible in 2017.
According to ShowBiz411, Rebecca Ferguson has signed on for Mission: Impossible 6.
Believe it or not, this will make her the first female lead to ever return for a Mission: Impossible movie. That was mainly because of scheduling issues, as both Mission Impossible III's Maggie Q and Ghost Protocol's Paula Patton were asked to reprise their roles, but were unavailable.
Ferguson played Isla Faust, an MI6 agent who goes undercover with the Syndicate. She was among the most interesting characters in the franchise yet, in part because she wasn't simply be the damsel in distress. Director Christopher McQuarrie noted in an interview with Empire that one of the rules he and Tom Cruise had was that Isla could never be the woman in peril. She didn't join up with Ethan Hunt and the gang by the end of the film, though, so it should be interesting to see how McQuarie gets her involved in the action a second time.
Ferguson gained recognition for playing Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen, but Rogue Nation was her first breakout film performance. Since then, she has landed roles starring opposite Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins and opposite Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train.
In addition to Ferguson being the first returning actress in the series, Rogue Nation's McQuarrie will be the first returning director. Although every movie in the series has had a completely new creative team, McQuarrie is expected to be back as writer and director.
No release date has been set for Mission: Impossible 6, but it will begin production in summer 2016, so it should land in theaters sometime in 2017.