Nicholas Hoult Replaced By Esai Morales – Variety

Esai Morales is replacing Nicholas Hoult in Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible 7,” Paramount Pictures has confirmed.

Morales exact role is unknown, but Hoult was expected to play a villain. He had departed due to scheduling conflicts.

Cruise is reprising his role as the seemingly indestructible globe-trotting secret agent Ethan Hunt in the seventh and eighth follow-ups. McQuarrie will write and direct both, which will be shot back-to-back. Since production shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hoult had to leave the project because it would overlap with a prior obligation – something that is likely to effect more productions as Hollywood waits to reopen.

Paramout recently pushed back the release date of the seventh installment, which will now debut Nov. 19, 2021. The eighth entry has also been delayed and will hit the big screen on Nov. 4, 2022.

Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby are all returning for “Mission: Impossible 7,” while Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Shea Whigham have joined the cast.

Morales is best known for “La Bamba” and his roles as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on “NYPD Blue” and Camino del Rio in the Netflix original series “Ozark.” His recent credits include “Titans,” “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “How To Get Away With Murder.”

He’s repped by Innovative and LINK. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.