Tom Cruise Shares First Look at Mysterious New Film From Oscar-Winning Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
This past weekend at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles, Tom Cruise received his first Oscar and delivered an emotional speech about the role that film has in his life. “Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,” Cruise said, and few could argue with the statement. When Cruise took to the stage, the man to greet him there was visionary Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, who said, “This may be his first Oscar, but from what I have seen and experienced, it will not be his last.” Iñárritu might have some inside knowledge, considering he’s directing Cruise in his next film, the still untitled 2026 action movie that will be Cruise’s first original film in nearly a decade. This week, Cruise took to social media to reveal just a little about his upcoming project, an image from set.
Today, I share the first photo taken last year during a rehearsal on the set of my new film with Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/3f9wgPh81T
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) November 18, 2025
Cruise has spent the last decade working on legacy films for characters he developed years ago—2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout continued Cruise’s turn as superspy Ethan Hunt. He followed that with 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, which was, of course, a continuation of his star-making turn as Pete Mitchell in 1986’s original Top Gun. Two more Mission: Impossible films followed—2023’s Dead Reckoning and 2025’s The Final Reckoning. You’d have to go back to Doug Liman’s 2017 film American Made for Cruise’s last role in an original movie, when he played Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s. All this makes his upcoming collaboration with Iñárritu so intriguing, as it’s an entirely original film co-written and directed by Iñárritu.
So what’s it about? The little we know is this simple logline: “The most powerful man in the world causes a disaster and embarks on a mission to prove that he is the savior of humanity.” Okay, sounds Cruise-ian for sure. Yet Iñárritu is a director known for cutting close to the bone, exploring themes of interconnectedness and human struggle, often deploying complex, non-linear narratives. While the set-up for the new film might sound like standard action fare, with Iñárritu at the helm, that seems unlikely.
The cast, too, offers clues to how rich this film could be. Cruise is joined by the stellar German actress Sandra Hüller, who was recently nominated for an Oscar in 2024 for her incredible performance in Anatomy of a Fall. The cast also includes stellar performers like Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, and John Goodman.
Cruise will be plenty busy in the years ahead. Some of his work will be familiar—Top Gun 3 is likely—but more, perhaps, will be new films now that his running days, at least as Ethan Hunt, appear to be over. He’s working again with Doug Liman on a movie called Deeper, co-starring Ana de Armas, that will be, appropriately, an underwater action thriller. Considering he spent a good portion of The Final Reckoning tumbling around inside a submarine, he’s more than prepared.
Featured image: Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (R) listens as US actor producer Tom Cruise accepts his Honorary Academy Award on stage during the 16th Governors Awards at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles on November 16, 2025. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP)
