Julia Meade Will Return in Mission: Impossible 6

Mission: Impossible 6 will welcome back Michelle Monaghan‘s Julia Meade, writer and director Christopher McQuarrie today confirmed. He posted the above image of the actress to his Instagram account without comment. You can check out the full image in the gallery viewer below.

Julia Meade first appeared in J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III, introduced as the recent wife of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. Meade was unaware of Hunt’s involvement with IMF, however, until she was kidnapped by Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Meade appeared again in the next film, Brad Bird‘s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, where it was revealed that Meade’s death was faked as a means of keeping her safe.

While the specifics of Julia Meade’s involvement in the new film have not yet been revealed, Michelle Monaghan joins a cast that includes the returning Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris and Alec Baldwin alongside franchise newcomers Vanessa Kirby, Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett.

The Mission: Impossible franchise launched in 1966 with the original CBS television series, which ran for seven seasons and 171 episodes. Mission: Impossible returned in 1988 with a rebooted series on ABC. It failed to find an audience, however, and was cancelled after two seasons. It was nearly a decade later that the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible feature film would turn the small screen spy series into a hugely-successful cinematic franchise.

Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed Rogue Nation, is once again writing and directing the sequel. His return to the franchise marks the first time a director has helmed more than one Mission: Impossible film.

Mission: Impossible 6 hits the big screen July 27, 2018.

UPDATE: McQuarrie has revealed more photos from the set, offering a look at Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg.