Mission Impossible 8’s Dead Reckoning Villain Return Teased By Star: “Hard To Kill!”

Mission: Impossible 8 star Simon Pegg teases the return of one key villain character from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Tom Cruise returned as superspy Ethan Hunt for another adventure this past summer, embarking on a mission to take down an AI threat known as the Entity. Gabriel (Esai Morales) serves as the Entity’s human emissary, with Pom Klementieff starring as Paris, his eccentric henchwoman.

Now, following the Mission: Impossible 8 release date delay, Pegg, who plays Benji, has taken to Instagram to confirm that Klementieff will be returning as Paris in the upcoming sequel. Check out Pegg’s post below:

“Hard to kill! If you think you’ve seen the last of Paris… think again,” Pegg writes in his caption. He accompanies the caption with a behind-the-scenes image of Klementieff behind the wheel of an armored truck, which features in one of the latest sequel’s most memorable action sequences.

How Paris Can Return In Mission: Impossible 8

The Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ending sees Paris, after having been stabbed by her former ally, Gabriel, saving Ethan and Grace (Haley Atwell). Before she passes out from her injuries, she reveals to Ethan the key’s connection to the Sevastopol submarine, the final piece of the puzzle for Cruise’s character. It appears, for a moment, that Paris has died, but a quick line of dialogue from someone attending to her injuries reveals that she actually remains alive when the credits start to roll.

Paris’ last scene in the latest sequel, then, provides a fairly strong indication of how she will factor into the next part of the story as a member of the Mission: Impossible 8 cast. Disillusioned with Gabriel and his evil plans after being stabbed and left for dead, it looks like Paris may be joining Ethan’s team, either as a means for getting revenge against Gabriel or due to her newfound conscience (or both). Paris could end up being a crucial companion, as she could provide further insight into Gabriel’s plan and how to take down the Entity.

Previous images shared by Pegg on Instagram have teased that some Mission: Impossible 8 filming took place in the Arctic, and Klementieff was tagged in some of these photos. The team, then, will definitely be heading out to the location where the Sevastopol was destroyed, and Paris will seemingly be playing a role in this sequence. It remains to be seen how exactly Paris will factor into Mission: Impossible 8, but it looks like Ethan and company have gained a valuable new ally.