Tom Cruise’s space movie will make him ‘the first civilian to do a spacewalk’

Tom Cruise already saved the world once through the air in the box-office swooping Top Gun: Maverick. Now he’s looking to repeat the big-screen feat, this time by flying so high that there is no air — far above Earth in the orbital cycle of the International Space Station.

Before we jump the countdown straight to liftoff, though, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the hugely-hyped (and yet unnamed) movie project that Cruise and Edge of Tomorrow directing collaborator Doug Liman have been trying to get off the ground at Universal Pictures. But if the project can topple some obviously huge logistical hurdles, studio boss Donna Langley hopes Cruise will become “the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of” the International Space Station.

Langley’s remarks came via a recent chat with the BBC, and effectively ratify the studio’s ongoing commitment to the ambitious idea of putting Cruise in a fully-functioning space suit. The on-camera stunt would definitely make for a historically epic location shoot, placing a dramatic spin on a feat that only a handful of human astronauts have ever achieved while marking a new milestone in cinema history.

It would also make for a logical evolution of Cruise’s famous do-it-yourself stunt work ethos as an actor. Courting real injury by taking some truly gnarly on-camera risks, Cruise already has leapt from a cargo plane for a breathtaking HALO (high-altitude, low-open) skydive in Mission: Impossible — Fallout; scaled the world’s tallest skyscraper in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol; and dangled from an in-flight passenger plane in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation. The peril is legit whenever Cruise captures the shot without relying on a stunt double; while filming Fallout, he broke his foot while filming a parkour jump between two buildings, forcing the movie to halt production for weeks.

While little is known about the space movie Cruise and Liman have in mind, Langley reaffirmed that the space walk is meant to be a dramatic set piece, and that much of the film’s plot would indeed unfold down on the ground. The story “actually takes place on Earth, and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day,” she explained.

While fans wait for that project to be cleared for takeoff, Cruise has a slew of more definite movies in the works. Up next is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the first of two installments in the next Mission: Impossible series that’s due in theaters on July 14 of next year. A second chapter, also teaming Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie, is set to arrive the following summer.

Looking for some sci-fi adventure? Check out SYFY's Battlestar Galactica streaming now on Peacock, and keep an eye out for SYFY's upcoming original The Ark, coming in 2023.