Last year has been surreal for Tom Cruise and his fans - the actor bid farewell to one of his career-defining franchises, Mission: Impossible, and also received his first-ever Oscar (Honorary). Developments like these make you look back at his 45-year-long career and wonder if it is time the actor slowed down? But it is never the case with Tom Cruise, and the childlike enthusiasm he possesses even at his advanced age only bolsters your faith in the actor for delivering banger after banger.

Here are 6 upcoming projects of the Mission: Impossible actor currently in various stages of production.

Digger, which is currently in post-production under Alejandro G. Iñárritu's direction, will star Tom Cruise as the world's most powerful man who causes a catastrophe and sets out to prove that he is humanity's savior. The excitement around this movie is almost electrifying, as for years the actor and director had a great relationship but did not work together on any project. Now, this collaboration presents an opportunity to see what the director of Birdman and The Revenant is capable of pulling off when given an actor like Tom Cruise.

The screenplay was co-written by Iñàrritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Sabina Berman, and Alexander Dinelaris. Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Robert John Burke, Emma D'Arcy, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, and Sophie Wilde are among the other cast members. On October 2, 2026, the much-anticipated project is supposed to make its way to theaters.   

The Top Gun: Maverick sequel from Paramount Pictures starring Tom Cruise as the daredevil fighter pilot Maverick is currently in early writing and pre-production stages with a release window of 2028. Ehren Kruger, co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick, is writing the project, which is tentatively named Top Gun 3. 

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While Cruise is the only confirmed actor to return, it is expected that Glen Powell as Jake "Hangman" Seresin and Miles Teller as Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw will also return in the third installment. Joseph Kosinski also returns to the director's seat. More details on the project might follow once the script is finalized.

Tom Cruise is set to co-star with Marion Cotillard and Henry Cavill in Christopher McQuarrie's war drama Broadsword. The plot, which is set in World War II and centers on a Marine sergeant who is the only survivor of his plane after it crashes in France, is based on a story by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen. He quickly forms a partnership with a courageous local girl, and we see them navigate perilous terrain while avoiding adversaries in the hopes of arriving in friendly territory. 

Pre-production on the Warner Bros. project has begun, and more information about production and release is still pending. But one thing is for sure: whenever Tom Cruise has donned the military uniform, magic has happened. It started with the 1989 film, Born on the Fourth of July, which also got him an Oscar nomination, and then A Few Good Men, where he went toe to toe with a legend like Jack Nicholson. This movie, too, has a promise of brilliance to it.  

Another Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise collaboration. The Gauntlet will also star Scarlett Johansson in a pivotal role. The movie is actually a reimagining of Clint Eastwood's action thriller from 1977. Interestingly, Eastwood is attached as a producer to the movie, which is presently in pre-production. 

Detective Shockley, who has to transfer a witness to testify against the mafia, is at the center of the story. After being betrayed by dishonest police officers, Shockley takes control of a bus and fortifies it in an effort to go to court while being chased by armed officers. As the development of the film progresses, more updates will be dropped.

Doug Liman's next supernatural thriller, Deeper, for Warner Bros., will star Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas in lead roles. The movie, which is based on a story by Max Landis, will follow a disgraced astronaut who dives deeply into an uncharted trench and meets a threatening, supernatural force. The whole experience, which started as a means to do away with his depression, became just a bizarre adventure that confronts him with a new version of himself. 

However, this transformation only gets completed when he meets the renowned French explorer Marion alive on the ocean below. The movie is poised to be an intense character study and unlike anything we have seen Cruise in. In August 2025, the shoot was postponed, and more production information is still pending.

Tom Cruise has started negotiations with Paramount Pictures to play the lead in a follow-up to his NASCAR movie Days of Thunder. The story of Cole Trickle (Cruise), a tenacious race car driver hired by a new NASCAR team headed by retired racing great Harry Hogge (played by Robert Duvall), is the focus of the original Tony Scott-directed movie. The project is far from completion because it is still in its early stages of development.

The Tom Cruise slate of upcoming movies looks so exciting with all kinds of diverse projects, which is indicative of the actor's conscious choice to take a step back from the consecutive action movies over the years. Apart from these projects, there are more ideas that are currently in the discussion stage, but for now, Tom Cruise fans will be eagerly waiting to see these ventures on the big screen.

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Which one of these Tom Cruise projects are you most excited for? Do let us know in the comments!