Two new Mission: Impossible movies from director Christopher McQuarrie are on the way, and now the director has cast one of the lead roles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nicholas Hoult has signed on for the two films, and he's rumoured to be playing the villain.

McQuarrie confirmed the casting in a post on Instagram, where he said, "Say, Nicholas Hoult, care to raise a little hell?" Hoult responded in his own post, "Love to. Though why stop at a little?"

Other actors already cast in the new Mission: Impossible films include Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Shea Whigham, Hayley Atwell, and Pom Klementieff.

Before this, Hoult was among the contenders to play Batman in the new film, The Batman. The role ultimately went to Robert Pattinson, who is very excited about it.

Hoult is perhaps best known for his roles as Beast in the X-Men movies and Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road. He also played a zombie in the delightful romcom Warm Bodies, and more recently he portrayed J.R.R. Tolkien in the biopic about the Lord of the Rings author's life. Hoult has been acting for a long time, as one of his first major roles was opposite Hugh Grant and Toni Collette in About A Boy when he was only 12 years old.

McQuarrie directed 2015's Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and 2018's Mission: Impossible: Fallout, both of which were big box office successes. He is the only director to handle more than one film in the franchise. He's writing and directing the next two, the first of which is scheduled to arrive in theatres in July 2021.