One key actor plays notable roles in both Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the Lilo & Sтιтch live-action remake, making them an undisputed winner of what should become one of the biggest box office weekends of 2025. Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise may be coming to an end with the eighth installment after running strong for three decades, although Cruise’s recent comments saying that he plans to be the first 100-year-old action star cast doubt that Final Reckoning will truly be the last, although Cruise insists that it will be (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Lilo & Sтιтch, on the other hand, looks to turn things around for Disney and fix their slump with live-action remakes of their classic animated films. Snow White’s disappointing box office performance failed to break even with its reported production budget of $240-270 million in March 2025. While The Lion King: Mufasa pulled in an impressive $722.6 million as a prequel to 2019’s The Lion King, its highest-grossing live-action remake of all time, Mufasa is both an original work and a prequel, not a remake. Lilo & Sтιтch has already shown box office promise with its mᴀssive $14.5 million gross in previews alone (via THR).

Hannah Waddingham Is In Both Lilo & Sтιтch And Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Waddingham Plays 2 Very Different Characters In The May 2025 Blockbusters

While she is not the star of either film, Emmy-winner Hannah Waddingham interestingly plays key supporting character roles in both Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the Lilo & Sтιтch live-action remake. Waddingham is the only actor appearing in both films, although she only lends her voice as the Grand Councilwoman character in Lilo & Sтιтch. The late actress Zoe Caldwell, known for films such as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, originally voiced the character in the 2002 animated original film. Caldwell also voiced Grand Councilwoman in 2003’s Sтιтch! The Movie and Lilo & Sтιтch: The Series.

Waddingham makes her franchise debut in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning as Admiral Neely, the commander of an American aircraft carrier stationed off the coast of Alaska, not far from the Russian border. Waddingham is best known for her award-winning role as Rebecca Welton in Apple’s hit comedy series Ted Lᴀsso​​​​​​. She has typically played more lighthearted and comedic characters in recent years, including the relentless movie producer Gail Meyer in 2024’s The Fall Guy and Jinx in The Garfield Movie. There is nothing funny, however, about the ultra-serious role of Admiral Neely in Mission: Impossible 8.

The Final Reckoning Has The Better Role For Hannah Waddingham Than Lilo & Sтιтch

Admiral Neely Becomes One Of The Many Crucial Players In Ethan’s Plan

Waddingham has a more prominent role in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning than she does in the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake. Not only is her character in The Final Reckoning a bit more than Grand Councilwoman in Lilo & Sтιтch, but she is actually seen on screen in Mission: Impossible, whereas she only portrayed an animated character in the Disney movie. Waddingham now joins the likes of Henry Cavill, Jeremy Renner, and Rebecca Ferguson in playing a key supporting character in a Mission: Impossible movie, an opportunity that may never be available ever again.

Hannah Waddingham Is The Winner Of Lilo & Sтιтch vs Mission: Impossible (No Matter What Happens At The Box Office)

Waddingham Should Continue Her Box Office Success With July’s Smurfs Release

No matter who wins the box office battle between Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the live-action Lilo & Sтιтch remake, Waddingham has put herself in the rare position of being on the winning side no matter what. She’s a winner either way, as both movies are projected to be mᴀssive at the box office and should end up being two of the highest-grossing films of 2025.

Waddingham’s box office success should also continue with the upcoming release of Smurfs in July, in which she is set to appear in a currently undisclosed role. Waddingham will join an enormous ensemble cast in Smurfs, including Rihanna, James Corden, John Goodman, Kurt Russell, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Levy, and Nick Offerman, who was also cast as an American military figure in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter