Tom Cruise swings from a plane in first trailer for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Tom Cruise returns in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, set for release next year. Photo / Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise is set to return to screens in the upcoming film Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - and a teaser trailer released this week promises plenty of death-defying stunts from the actor.

The eighth Mission: Impossible film will reportedly be Cruise’s last appearance as Ethan Hunt.

During the trailer, Cruise, 62, is shown hanging from a light plane - more than once - as well as scuba diving to a submarine, speeding through an unidentified city on foot, and fighting an antagonist while shirtless.

Angela Bassett also appears in the trailer, confirming her return as Erika Sloane. She first appeared as the character in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which was released in 2018.

Sharing the trailer on Instagram, Cruise himself wrote, “Our lives are the sum of our choices”.

The actor has played Hunt since the first film in the franchise was released in 1996.

The eighth movie follows up on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, which was released in 2023 and had Hunt taking on AI The Entity.

Tom Cruise hangs off a plane in the dramatic trailer for the eighth Mission: Impossible movie. Photo / Paramount Pictures

Alongside Cruise and Bassett, Hayley Atwell will return in Mission: Impossible 8 as Grace, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn and Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell. Vanessa Kirby will reprise her role as Alanna Mitsopolis, alongside Pom Klementieff as Paris, Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, and Esai Morales as Gabriel.

Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Katy O’Brian, Holt McCallany, and Tramell Tillman are set to join the cast for the first time.

The film will be directed by Christopher McQuarrie - his fourth in the franchise. It was originally meant to be titled Dead Reckoning Part Two. Part One made $570 million (NZ$962m) at the box office in 2023 - less than expected due to the Barbenheimer craze, but it was nominated for two Oscars.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is set for release in cinemas on May 23, 2025.