Simon Pegg Will Reprise His Role As Benji For Mission Impossible 5

Last week, Mission Impossible 5 finally secured a release date. It’ll drop on Christmas Day 2015, which means it’s probably a bit too far off to start getting actively excited about but definitely close enough to start narrowing down a cast. We’ve known Tom Cruise would reprise his principal role as Ethan Hunt for awhile now, and we’ve known his buddy Christopher McQuarrie would helm, as well. Beyond that, however, it’s been crickets, at least until earlier today when likeable actor Simon Pegg confirmed he’d be back on board for his third installment of the series.

The comedian was directly asked about MI5 in an interview with MTV, and refreshingly, he gave the outlet a straight up answer. He will definitely be back for more carnage, and to prepare himself for the role, he’s already started eating "one carrot" a day. No doubt that’s a slight exaggeration, but in the past, he’s definitely shot those movies at a below average fighting weight.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, or Ghotocol, was released a little less than two years ago. It was helmed by Incredibles director Brad Bird, and by pretty much any definition, it was a raging success. The film did almost seven hundred million dollars in worldwide box office, and it did extremely well with critics. We gave it four-and-a-half stars, and that was pretty much in line with everyone else. With Bird out and McQuarrie in, it’s likely the tone and pace of MI 5 will be a little different than what we saw last time around, but if nothing else, the spectacular box office and good buzz proves the franchise is far from dead. If the new entry is good, people definitely will show up, which is a good thing since Christmas Day of 2015 will see it directly compete with the second weekend of the new Star Wars, among a litany of other entries from big name stars and directors.

Cruise is obviously the star of the movies. He has carried every single entry. Ultimately, the film will live and die with him, but the better rounds in the series are still able to create a nice web of supporting characters that make the larger story more interesting and fun to watch. Pegg’s Benji will certainly help with that, though we’ll just have to wait and see over the next few months who exactly is hired to either join him for the first time or reprise their roles from earlier installments.

For a reminder of how visually stunning Ghotocol was, you can check out the trailer below…