Simon Pegg enjoys 'job security' with Mission: Impossible movies

Simon Pegg enjoys the "job security" he has with his role in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The Star Trek actor has played tech expert Benji Dunn since 2006's Mission: Impossible III, and he was reminded of how much he revels in being part of the long-standing spy thriller saga when he met the new cast and crew of the upcoming seventh and eighth instalments.

"It was funny, when I met all the people that are going to be in the new one, we had what was going to be our kickoff dinner - but it turned out not to be obviously," he told Collider, referencing production on the movies being shut down amid the Covid-19 outbreak. "But knowing that these actors are going to be my friends now because we're going to work together for nearly two years, is always an interesting prospect... It's nice to have that job security."

Elsewhere in the interview, he defended director Christopher McQuarrie's decision to split the next story in the saga into two separate films, and revealed it was because the filmmaker wants to give each character a well-deserved storyline.

"Before production McQuarrie takes me out to dinner and acts out the whole movie. And sometimes what he's told me hasn't transpired," Pegg recalled. "But with this one he has a much clearer idea. The reason we're splitting it into two is because he's determined to give everybody a proper emotional arc, a proper emotional detailed character arc. And instead of trying to cram it all into one film, he's going to allow that arc to spread out over two."

Mission: Impossible 7 is scheduled to be released in November 2021, and Mission: Impossible 8 will hit cinemas in November 2022.