Mission: Impossible 5 is only about a year and a half away, so it shouldn't be long before Tom Cruise and his director pal Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) start dropping some concrete casting news. There has been a new development that should speed things along as video game writer Will Staples has been brought in to give the script a rewrite.
Staples, who has written for the Need for Speed and Call of Duty video game franchises, will take a crack at the script previously written by Iron Man 3's Drew Pearce. Pearce came aboard before McQuarrie officially signed on, so it's unclear how much of his original plan will remain. They'll be looking to springboard off the $690M success of Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, and of course Cruise will be back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. One question that remains unanswered is if we'll be seeing Jeremy Renner's character return? At one point it looked like Renner was being set up to take over the franchise but now there's nothing being said about him at all.
Mission: Impossible 5 is set to open on Christmas Day 2015. [THR]
