tom cruise edge of tomorrow interview

Tom Cruise Remembers Edge Of Tomorrow, But When Is That Sequel Happening?

Happy 10th anniversary, Edge of Tomorrow!

10 years ago today, you would have been able to buy a ticket to one of the best action movies we’ve ever seen, Edge of Tomorrow . Although the movie never took up the No. 1 spot at the box office during its time in theaters, it remains a top-tier thrilling science fiction film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in many cinephile’s hearts. With it’s recent anniversary in mind, Cruise has remembered the epic action flick. 

Tom Cruise isn’t one to spam on social media. He chooses his moments, so on Thursday afternoon, he decided to pay tribute to Edge of Tomorrow with thoughtful words about the movie. He said: 

It’s been 10 years since Edge of Tomorrow first hit theaters! I want to take the opportunity to thank Emily Blunt once again for being such a great friend and brilliant actress. I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all.

I can’t help but wonder if this tribute means we’ll be getting the Edge of Tomorrow sequel many have been hoping for! The comment section was, of course, riddled with calls from fans for another movie from the established world, but we don’t know if it’s happening yet. 

The latest update we’ve heard about Edge of Tomorrow 2 was when Emily Blunt stated that she knew Cruise was interested in making a sequel, but she shared feelings that it might be too late to do so now . Blunt has previously been vocal about the continued back pain the movie caused her , but one would imagine she might change her mind if Cruise and the filmmakers had a really good idea for it. As the star continued in his Instagram post: 

This anniversary brings back incredible memories. My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great Bill Paxton. His performance and the character he created left an indelible mark on this film. Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task. The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen—it was an absolute joy creating it with you all.

Tom Cruise kept his working relationships with many of his Edge of Tomorrow collaborators. As he shared, it was the first time he got to be directed by Doug Liman , whom he later worked with on 2017’s American Made . It’s also a part of his ongoing partnership with Christopher McQuarrie, who had written and directed him in Jack Reacher prior to writing the script for Edge of Tomorrow . 

After the 2014 movie, the pair made a Reacher sequel, The Mummy , four Mission: Impossible movies and Top Gun : Maverick together, with McQuarrie often changing between directing, writing and producing roles from one collaboration to the other. Here’s how Tom Cruise ended the tribute: 

To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film. I can’t wait to share more about the great movies we’re working on.

What do those comments mean? Is he hinting at “working on” another Edge of Tomorrow or just getting nostalgic on the movie’s 10th anniversary? We don’t know, but his comments only make us want a sequel more!

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While we wonder about that, you can see Tom Cruise next on the big screen for Mission: Impossible 8 , which is among the upcoming 2025 movies . Ethan Hunt will return, surely for more breathtaking action, just under a year from now, on May 23, 2025.

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.

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Tom Cruise’s Best Action Sci-Fi Feels Like an Unofficial FromSoftware Movie

Live. Die. Reload.

FromSoftware is notorious among video game fans for its bleak and challenging action RPGs like Bloodborne , Dark Souls , and Elden Ring . Their notoriety stems from the incredible difficulty of their (often inhuman) bosses, and the frustrating reality that success requires multiple deaths and rebirths as players figure out the capabilities and weaknesses of those powerful foes. These elements are so associated with the studio that games by other creators with similar traits have been informally dubbed ‘Souls-like.’ It makes for an intense gaming experience, but one that hasn’t been translated to the big screen... except it kind of has, thanks to Doug Liman’s time-looping action-sci-fi masterpiece Edge of Tomorrow .

Adapting the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill , Edge of Tomorrow follows reluctant soldier Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) who, upon getting covered by the blood of nigh-victorious alien invaders, reincarnates and resets that bloody day every time he dies. The attackers, called Mimics, are biologically strange, brutal, lightning-quick, and connected by a hive mind that can rewind and reset time upon death or defeat. This allows them to study and defeat human forces until Cage ingests the blood and teams up with the last human to acquire the ability, Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). She walks Cage through his new abilities, and he grows in skill and knowledge with each demise, ultimately defeating a seemingly insurmountable foe. Sound familiar, Souls fans?

Edge of Tomorrow is so specifically thrilling because of the elements it shares with various Souls titles. At the risk of generalizing a bit, you have a protagonist (say, Bloodborne’s Hunter and Major Cage) infused by a cosmically special substance (the blood transfusion/Mimic blood) that allows them to reincarnate. Dying is key to getting stronger and more knowledgeable, and they reincarnate in a hub world outside combat (Hunter’s Dream/a military base) .

Of course, this isn’t the first time a great movie showcased a character stuck in a time loop until they learned something important. Time loops have made Phil Conners (Bill Murray) a better human in Groundhog Day, and helped Theresa “Tree” Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) survive a masked killer in Happy Death Day . But typical time-looping protagonists don’t gain their abilities with an infusion of eldritch blood. That’s a FromSoftware thing, as is the presence of an ally (the Plain Doll/Sgt. Vrataski) who walks them through the world and teaches them how to use their special ability. By set-up alone, Edge of Tomorrow might as well be a FromSoftware production.

Beyond having a protagonist gain special rebirth and upgrade powers by ingesting eldritch substances, Edge of Tomorrow feels a little more Souls-like than other time-loop films thanks to its otherworldly villains. FromSoftware titles often have dangerous, inhuman arch-baddies that endanger the protagonist’s entire reality, like Bloodborne ’s Great Ones, or Elden Ring ’s series of Outer Gods and demigods. Edge of Tomorrow ’s Mimics have truly alien biology, and are on the verge of ending humanity thanks to their ability to overcome death and rewind time. They’re a world-ending, cosmic terror-esque threat that reflects FromSoftware much more than, say, Groundhog Day . Bill Murray plays a big jerk, sure, but he’s not the Outer God Of Weathered Narcissism.

Tom Cruise, seen here trying to slog through yet another one of Miyazaki’s poison swamps.

Edge of Tomorrow isn’t such a memorable masterpiece of horror-tinged sci-fi action just because it puts these elements on screen, but because it uses them well. The inhuman antagonists are strange and frightening. Cage’s task is nigh impossible, and the stakes are existential. It’s as fun to watch Major Cage have a deadly training montage as it is to watch him grow morally. Emily Blunt’s Sgt. Vrataski is an improvement over the typical game NPC because, despite losing her immortality, she’s still a fleshed-out badass with authority. The time loop aspect creates several challenges and action set-pieces that adeptly balance high-octane action with novel situational comedy. It’s a hard dynamic to get right, and Edge of Tomorrow nails it.

It’s hard to say if a FromSoftware game will ever get a proper film or TV adaptation. There’s some hope, given that Werewolves Within , The Last of Us , and Fallout were adapted with surprising excellence, but the specific details that make Souls games work are hard to translate. Edge of Tomorrow isn’t an adaptation, but it still masters these tricky details. Major Cage reincarnates into a helpful little safe area where he can train between cosmic terror fights. Through his eyes, the movie perfectly captures the growing frustrations of viciously, instantly dying on repeat until, little by little, a protagonist gains enough skill to progress through challenging terrain. It’s perhaps the closest to a big-screen Souls adaptation we’ll likely ever get, which makes us lucky that it’s also a damn fine sci-fi action movie.

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• Science Fiction

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Tom Cruise Celebrates 10 Years Of Edge Of Tomorrow, Calls Emily Blunt A 'Brilliant Actress'

Published By : Chirag Sehgal

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Last Updated: June 07, 2024, 09:12 IST

Mumbai, India

Edge of Tomorrow fans have been eagerly waiting for a sequel. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Tom Cruise starrer Edge of Tomorrow completed 10 years of its release. The actor thanked director Doug Liman and co-actors Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson and Bill Paxton.

Tom Cruise starrer Edge of Tomorrow completed a decade of its release. Known as one of Hollywood’s top action stars, Tom Cruise’s performance in Edge of Tomorrow remains a highlight of his career. Based on the 2004 novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, the Doug Liman-directed film was released in June 2014, exceeding expectations and receiving immense praise from critics and viewers alike.

As the film marked its 10th anniversary, Tom Cruise took a walk down memory lane as he reflected on the production and release of Edge of Tomorrow while also heaping praise on his co-star Emily Blunt. In a long Instagram post, Tom Cruise began by thanking Emily for being a “great friend and brilliant actress.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Cruise (@tomcruise)

“I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all,” he added.

The actor mentioned director Doug Liman and co-actors Brendan Gleeson and Bill Paxton, stating how they left an indelible mark on the film. “This anniversary brings back incredible memories. My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great Bill Paxton. His performance and the character he created left an indelible mark on this film.”

He added, “Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task. The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen—it was an absolute joy creating it with you all. To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film. I can’t wait to share more about the great movies we’re working on.”

Along with the note, Tom Cruise also added a video containing some of the best scenes from the sci-fi action film. Fans also wasted no time, as many took to the comment section and hailed the film as one of his best deliveries. Many even demanded a sequel.

More About Edge Of Tomorrow

The film’s story takes the audience to the future when most of Europe is seen being taken over by an alien race, where Major William Cage (Cruise) is forced to join a landing operation against them. However, this is where he “lives, dies and repeats,” as the character gets stuck in some sort of time loop and ends up living the same day repeatedly.

Emily Blunt plays Sergeant Rita Vrataski, who teams up with Cage, setting the stage for a war against aliens. With a decade since its release, diehard fans have been speculating about a sequel; however, the answer is still unclear.

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Emily Blunt says Tom Cruise once told her to ‘stop being such a p—’ on set

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Emily Blunt is pulling back the curtain on what it was like to work with Tom Cruise on “Edge of Tomorrow.”

In a new episode of the “SmartLess” podcast that premiered Dec. 5 on Wondery and will be available Monday on other streaming platforms, Blunt recalled Cruise telling her to “stop being such a p—” behind the scenes of their 2014 action film .

According to Entertainment Weekly , the “Devil Wears Prada” and “A Quiet Place” actor recounted her experience working on “Edge of Tomorrow” to “SmartLess” co-hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett. She said that the sci-fi movie’s futuristic, mechanical costumes weighed about 85 pounds, which pushed her to her breaking point one day on set.

Review: ‘Edge of Tomorrow,’ Tom Cruise run loops around competition

Just when you were ready to give up on the summer season and its cookie-cutter, been-there blockbusters, “Edge of Tomorrow” saves the day.

June 5, 2014

“It was so heavy,” she said, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“The first time I put it on I just started to cry in front of Tom, and he didn’t know what to do. He just stared at me. I was like, ‘Tom, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this shoot,’ and just started to cry. I said, ‘I’m just feeling a bit panicky about the whole shoot.’ He just stared at me for a long time, not knowing what to do, and he goes, ‘Come on, stop being such a p—, OK?’”

Blunt said she laughed off the remark and was able to make it through the shoot with Cruise. Though she admitted the “training was intense” and that it “would’ve been great” if the effects department had just tricked out the costumes using CGI.

“We wanted to do it practically and in a tactile way,” she said. “When you hear the word ‘tactile,’ you think that sounds nice and cozy. There was nothing cozy about wearing these suits.”

A representative for Cruise did not immediately respond Sunday to The Times’ request for comment.

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Edge of Tomorrow

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies. A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies. A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

• Christopher McQuarrie
• Jez Butterworth
• John-Henry Butterworth
• Emily Blunt
• Bill Paxton
• 1.2K User reviews
• 637 Critic reviews
• 71 Metascore
• 11 wins & 38 nominations

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Did you know

• Trivia While filming the car chase scene which includes a minivan, Emily Blunt was instructed to drive fast and then to take a right hand turn so that the van would shake. However, Blunt missed her mark and she drove the car right into a tree. She later said that it was both hilarious and terrifying, as she almost killed Tom Cruise , who was in the passenger seat, but both of them started laughing after the incident.
• Goofs On the map seen at the start of the movie, the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, was misplaced in Croatia.

Rita Vrataski : What do we do now?

Cage : I don't know. We've never gotten this far.

• Crazy credits There are no opening credits, the title doesn't appear until the closing credits.
• Connections Featured in Film '72: Episode dated 5 March 2014 (2014)
• Soundtracks Massive Mellow Written by Daniel Lenz Performed by Daniel Lenz Courtesy of RipTide Music

User reviews 1.2K

• Jun 21, 2014
• How did they get permission to land a helicopter in Trafalgar Square? That would be like landing one on Pennsylvania Avenue.
• Is "Edge of Tomorrow" based on a book?
• What song is playing when the movie ends?
• June 6, 2014 (United States)
• United States
• -Director Doug Liman in Official Movie Interview
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• Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow
• Trafalgar Square, Westminster, Greater London, England, UK
• Warner Bros.
• Village Roadshow Pictures
• RatPac-Dune Entertainment
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• $178,000,000 (estimated)
• $100,206,256
• $28,760,246
• Jun 8, 2014
• $370,570,268

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• Runtime 1 hour 53 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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The Big Picture

• Edge of Tomorrow almost starred Brad Pitt, but Tom Cruise ended up being the perfect choice for the lead role.
• The lengthy shooting schedule of the film saw the director and cast facing challenges, including reshoots and intense fight sequences that caused injuries.
• Despite behind-the-scenes struggles, Edge of Tomorrow remains a science fiction success worth watching even a decade later.

Edge of Tomorrow is a movie that continues to impress a decade after its release. It carries some impressive star power in the form of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt and boasts one of the more inventive premises for a science fiction story. When a race of alien invaders attacks the Earth, Major David Cage (Cruise) is conscripted into fighting said aliens. But during the fight, he is coated in alien biomatter that allows him to relive that same day whenever he dies. While Cage uses his newfound ability to try and turn the tide of the war, the behind-the-scenes work of shooting Edge of Tomorrow dwarfed any conflict on the big screen. Those issues included rewrites, a different choice for the leading man, and a stressful shooting schedule.

Edge of Tomorrow

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

'Edge of Tomorrow' Almost Starred Brad Pitt Instead of Tom Cruise

Edge of Tomorrow traces its origins back to the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill , which was optioned by 3 Arts Entertainment shortly after VIZ published the English language translation. Shortly after this, Dante Harper was tapped to pen the script. But when Cruise and director Doug Liman boarded Edge of Tomorrow, other screenwriters ended up re-working Harper's script . Those writers included Joby Harold ( Obi-Wan Kenobi ) , Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ( Star Trek ), and Simon Kinberg (who previously wrote the Liman-directed Jumper ). The final version of Edge of Tomorrow comes courtesy of Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Christopher McQuarrie — but even then it wasn't easy, as McQuarrie struggled with the ending scene.

Thankfully, Cruise had a solution for him: lean into the comedy of it all. After all, there's something darkly humorous about a man who's constantly dying in pursuit of saving the world — Cruise even compared it to Wile E. Coyote ! "We really struggled to deliver what the movie needed to be emotionally. I know the ending was somewhat controversial, with some people who didn’t like it. I think the only way to make those people happy would to end the movie in a way that wasn’t happy. We weren’t interested in doing that. It needed to end in a way that wasn’t harsh,” McQuarrie told Film School Rejects following Edge of Tomorrow' s release.

But Edge of Tomorrow could have turned out far differently because Warner Bros wanted Brad Pitt in the lead role . Pitt ultimately declined, leaving Warner Bros to go to Cruise as its next choice. The result delivered Edge of Tomorrow in its final form, and nearly all parties involved reaped the reward. Cruise and McQuarrie, who'd previously worked together, went on to collaborate on the recent run of Mission: Impossible films . Cruise also recently struck a deal with Warner Bros. to star in and produce films for the studio.

Why Haven’t We Gotten an 'Edge of Tomorrow' Sequel?

Please, Christopher McQuarrie, give Tom Cruise some time off from 'Mission: Impossible' so he can slay mimics once again!

'Edge of Tomorrow' Had a Lengthy Shooting Schedule

Even with a completed script and the right cast, Edge of Tomorrow still had some issues while filming. Part of that was due to Liman's approach to filming, which saw him overrun budgets and butt heads with his talent. The Los Angeles Times ran an interview with Liman, where he recalled an interaction with Blunt that left everyone on set shocked. "I was a little under pressure and I snapped...And Emily said, 'Easy, I've never made a movie like this before!' I fired back, 'Well, neither have I!'" Liman said. "My producer Erwin Stoff told me later it was the most incredible thing he'd ever heard anyone say: The director telling the stars of the movie that, basically, he had no idea what he was doing."

Even with Liman admitting that he may have been in over his head, his choices while filming would have directors of all stripes scratching their heads. On the second day of filming, he wanted to reshoot everything from the first day. That was nothing compared to filming an intense fight sequence on a beach set, which marks the point of the film where Cage is locked into the time loop. This shoot, which was planned for two weeks, ended up lasting three whole months — and put the actors through hell, with Blunt almost breaking her nose during a stunt . Despite this, she praised Liman for his "refreshing" honesty. "He has no filter when it comes to being honest,...you can waste so much time with politeness and diplomacy on set. That's what's so refreshing about Doug. He's honest when he's not happy with something and very honest when he is happy with something. He's confident enough to try anything and carve out new space for every moment that is in the movie." Blunt told the Los Angeles Times .

Looking at all the behind-the-scenes struggles, from the constant rewrites to the long shooting schedule, it's a miracle that Edge of Tomorrow managed to be both a critical and commercial success. But the end result delivered a science fiction spectacle that's still worth a watch 10 years later.

Edge of Tomorrow is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

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• Movie Features

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ Review: Tom Cruise’s Groundhog Starship Butterfly Source Code Troopers Day Effect (Video)

It’s a familiar sci-fi mashup, but director Doug Liman knows how to find the fun and the thrills in this tale of an alien-fighting soldier who lives the same day over and over again

Tom Cruise has a killer case of déjà vu in “Edge of Tomorrow,” and he’s not the only one; viewers will pick out plot elements from “Groundhog Day,” “Starship Troopers,” “Source Code,” and “The Butterfly Effect” from this exciting sci-fi action epic, adapted from the delightfully-titled novel “All You Need Is Kill.”

The familiarity never gets in the way of the fun, however, with director Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) and screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie (who recently directed Cruise in “Jack Reacher” ), Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth keeping the plot moving forward (albeit in a circle) with surprising injections of wit.

See video: Tom Cruise Spends ‘an Eternity’ Dying in New ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ Trailer

It seems like a million years ago now, but there was a time when Liman made his name with explosion-free comedies like “Swingers” and “Go”; it’s that latter film that “Edge of Tomorrow” most often resembles, with its out-of-order-ticking-clock structure and its pampered protagonist who quickly finds himself way in over his head.

“Tomorrow” begins with a rapid-fire montage of news reports of an alien invasion of Europe; all seems lost until soldier Rita Vrataski ( Emily Blunt ), also known as “the Angel of Verdun,” wipes out a bunch of E.T.s in the military’s new exo-skeleton armor/weaponry. The U.S. Army’s PR officer, Major Bill Cage (Tom Cruise), appears on news shows around the world to reassure the public that international fighting forces, equipped with similar battle suits, will have the same success as the relatively untrained Rita.

That “glory” occurs the next morning, and it’s a catastrophe, with human forces being picked off easily by the aliens. Through sheer luck, Cage outlasts most of his comrades, even killing a larger, more threatening alien, who bleeds all over Cage before killing him…at which point Cage wakes up at Heathrow again.

Cage keeps trying to change the sequence of events, but he keeps dying and waking up and dying and waking up over and over again. Everything seems immutable — until he runs into Rita on the battlefield, and she tells him, “Find me when you wake up.”

Also read: Tom Cruise’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ Could Be Summer’s First Big-Budget Bomb

Rita, it turns out, was also once infected by one of those larger aliens, and it connected her to the alien hive-mind, giving her the same cyclical immortality until a blood transfusion stripped her of those abilities. Mankind’s only hope is for Rita to turn Cage into a soldier (no matter how many times she has to kill him to do it) so that the two can find the alien alpha-mind that controls the entire invading force.

Like the wartime movies of the 1940s (not to mention Paul Verhoeven’s parody of same in “Starship Troopers”), “Edge of Tomorrow” is a movie where a callow, selfish d-bag learns to be a better person by going to war. We’ve seen Cruise on this jerk-to-gem path before, although this film seems almost cannily designed to draw in ticket buyers who are fed up with the actor. “Don’t like Tom Cruise?” the film seems to be offering, “Come watch him get killed over and over again!”

He’s actually delivering a nicely underplayed performance, as though he were aware that it’s the high-concept plot that’s the real star here. Blunt commits to the material as well; she might seem wildly miscast as a war hero, but given the strange circumstances by which Rita achieves her notoriety (as does Cage), it makes sense that they didn’t cast a Sigourney Weaver type.

See video: ‘Top Gun’ Sequel Will See Tom Cruise Grappling With Drone Warfare, Jerry Bruckheimer Says

Liman gives editor James Herbert ( “Sherlock Holmes” ) a lot to work with, giving us different angles on repeated scenes (except when making them identical is part of the joke); for a film about repetition, “Edge of Tomorrow” never feels tired or familiar.

If there’s anything disappointing about the film, it involves the ending; it’s a defensible one, but everything leading up to it fooled me into expecting something smarter or more daring. Ultimately, though, “Edge of Tomorrow” feels sharper and more clever than it might have been in other hands, and for a big summer star vehicle, that’s surprise enough.

Edge of Tomorrow 2 Is Now Closer Than Ever Thanks To Tom Cruise's New Deal

• Tom Cruise's new deal with Warner Bros. could finally make Edge of Tomorrow 2 happen after years of limbo.
• Cruise's return to Warner Bros. could pave the way for Live Die Repeat and Repeat to move past pre-production.
• Despite recent sequels with mixed results, Cruise is no longer hesitant to make sequels, making Edge of Tomorrow 2 more likely.

The long-awaited Edge of Tomorrow 2 might now be closer than ever thanks to a new deal between Tom Cruise and Warner Bros. Tom Cruise continues to be one of the most popular and profitable action stars in the film industry, a spot he has maintained since the 1980s, beginning with his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Tony Scott’s Top Gun . Cruise’s popularity continued throughout the 1990s thanks to Mission: Impossible and other projects outside the action genre, as were the comedy-drama Jerry Maguire and the psychological drama Eyes Wide Shut .

The expansion of the Mission: Impossible franchise has kept Cruise active in the action genre throughout the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s, but in 2014, he explored another side of this genre with Edge of Tomorrow . Based on the 2004 novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and directed by Doug Liman, Edge of Tomorrow takes the audience to a future where most of Europe is taken over by an alien race. When Major William Cage (Cruise) is forced to join a landing operation against them, he finds himself in a time loop. Despite Edge of Tomorrow ’s critical and commercial success, a sequel has been lost in limbo for years , but Cruise’s latest studio deal can finally make Edge of Tomorrow 2 happen.

Tom Cruise's Next Long-Delayed Sequel Needs To Be His Priority Over Top Gun 3

While the idea of Top Gun 3 happening is exciting, Tom Cruise should shift his focus to a long-delayed sci-fi sequel that needs him to move forward.

Tom Cruise Has History With Warner Bros. (But Not In A Decade)

Cruise last worked with the studio on the original edge of tomorrow.

Warner Bros. has announced a new deal with Tom Cruise through which they will jointly develop and produce “ original and franchise theatrical films ” starring Cruise, beginning in 2024. This isn’t Tom Cruise’s first time working with Warner Bros., and this deal marks his big return to the studio. Warner Bros. is the studio behind some of Cruise’s biggest movies , such as Risky Business (which is widely considered his breakthrough role), the horror movie Interview with the Vampire (where he played Lestat), Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut , and Magnolia , for which Cruise got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Cruise’s last project with Warner Bros. was Edge of Tomorrow , in 2014, so his return to the studio could be the push that Edge of Tomorrow 2 needs to finally happen. As mentioned above, Cruise’s new deal with Warner is to make movies both franchise and original, and Edge of Tomorrow being the last big success they had together, it’s a good sign for Edge of Tomorrow 2 .

Since Edge of Tomorrow , Cruise’s career has been mostly focused on expanding other franchises, mostly the Mission: Impossible one, but having him back again with Warner makes the expansion of Edge of Tomorrow a lot more likely .

Edge Of Tomorrow 2 Has Been Kicked Around For Years

All original players have expressed a desire to continue the story.

Despite not having an open ending, Edge of Tomorrow left the door open for a sequel as Cage fulfilled his mission and was thrown back to the past, though with a much brighter future. In 2016, Doug Liman signed on to direct the sequel , and that same year, he said Edge of Tomorrow 2 would “ revolutionize how people make sequels ” as it was “ a sequel that’s a prequel ” (via Collider ).

Tom Cruises deal with Warner Bros. can put an end to the scheduling conflicts that have been delaying Edge of Tomorrow 2...

The following year, the title for the sequel, Live Die Repeat and Repeat , was revealed, and Cruise and Blunt were said to be reprising their roles, but the project began to face a couple of obstacles, mostly the schedules of Blunt, Cruise, and Liman. Tom Cruise’s deal with Warner Bros. can put an end to the scheduling conflicts that have been delaying Edge of Tomorrow 2 , and if Blunt and Liman are still up for it, Live Die Repeat and Repeat could finally be on its way to moving past pre-production hell.

Tom Cruise Is Doing More Sequels Lately

Cruise has had disappointments and great successes with recent sequels.

Unlike a number of other high-profile Hollywood stars, Tom Cruise spent many years of his career largely avoiding franchise filmmaking. He kept the Mission: Impossible movies going, but the idea of him wanting to return for Edge of Tomorrow 2 was exciting because of how rare it was to have him return to a role. However, in recent years, Cruise has shown more of a willingness to make sequels which has had mixed results.

Following his box office success in bringing the character of Jack Reacher to the big screen, it seemed like a perfect franchise to carry on. However, the first attempt at a sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , was a financial and critical failure that ended those franchise plans and led to the character being rebooted as a television series with Alan Ritchson in the lead role.

While that wasn't a disappointment for Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick proved to exceed nearly everyone's expectations as a long-awaited follow-up movie. Decades after the 1986 original, Top Gun: Maverick saw Cruise return to the role of hotshot pilot Maverick in a film that became the highest-grossing movie of Cruise's career. Not only that, but it was a critical success as well, with it even earning a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.

With Mission: Impossible 8 also on the way , it is clear that Cruise is no longer as hesitant to make sequels. Even with missteps like Jack Reacher 2 , Cruise has a better track record with sequels than most actors. If Edge of Tomorrow 2 does indeed happen, it is safe to say that it is because Cruise sees it as a worthwhile project and not a mindless cash grab.

Edge of Tomorrow

Director Doug Liman

Release Date June 6, 2014

Cast Emily Blunt, Tom Cruise

Rating PG-13

Runtime 1h 53m

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Emily blunt says she is “so ready” for an ‘edge of tomorrow’ sequel with tom cruise.

During a recent interview, the actress also explains why she doesn't consider herself a movie star.

By Carly Thomas

Carly Thomas

Associate Editor

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Emily Blunt is all for teaming with Tom Cruise again for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel.

While appearing on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actress said she wishes there could be another film and revealed that she has actually read a script for one before.

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The actress added that she is “so ready” for a sequel and clarified that she is “not the impediment, I promise.”

Earlier during the interview, Blunt also opened up about why she doesn’t consider herself a movie star, even though she has starred in dozens of films throughout her career.

When asked about the difference between being called an actor or a movie star, the actress said, “I think most people would want to consider themselves an actor [first].”

As for herself, when Horowitz asked if she thinks she could be both, Blunt quickly responded, “No, gross. I don’t.”

“I just think, to me, a movie star sounds sort of too separate of what we kind of started out doing and why we love it and why I love it,” she added.

The Oppenheimer star went on to explain how she feels there can’t be a movie star without recognizing one’s talents as an actor first, using “one of the first actors who made such an impact on” her growing up as an example.

“ Julia Roberts , who is, you know, was defined as a movie star,” Blunt said. “But you can’t forget her incalculable abilities as an actor and how incredible she was in Pretty Woman , that the reason she’s a movie star is because she kidnaps you and pulls you in o this movie because of her phenomenal talents and her charm and her charisma.”

As for her most recent co-stars in Christopher Nolan’s latest film, which is currently playing in theaters, Blunt quipped that Cillian Murphy “would be sort of horrified to be called the movie star.”

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"Edge of Tomorrow" is less of a time travel movie than an experience movie; that statement might not make sense now, but it probably will after you've seen it. Based on Hiroshi Sikurazaka's novel "All You Need is Kill", it's a true science fiction film, highly conceptual, set during the aftermath of an alien invasion. Maybe "extra-dimensional being invasion" is more accurate. The fierce, octopod-looking beasties known as Mimics are controlled hive-mind style by a creature that seems able to peer through time, or rupture it, or something. When the tale begins, we don't have exact answers about the enemy's powers (that's for our intrepid heroes to find out), but we have a solid hunch that it can see possible futures through the eyes of specific humans, then treat them as, essentially, video game characters, following their progress through the nasty "adventure" of the war, and making note of their tactical maneuvers, the better to ensure our collective extermination. 

Tom Cruise , who seems to be spending his fifties saving humanity, plays Major William Cage, an Army public relations officer. Cage is a surprising choice for the role of hero. He's never seen combat yet inexplicably finds himself thrown into the middle of a ferocious battle that will decide the outcome of the war. The film begins with Cage en route to European command headquarters in London, waking up in the belly of a transport chopper. The rest of the movie may not be his dream per se, but at various points it sure feels as though it is. The world is wracked by war. Millions have died. Whole cities have been reduced to ash heaps. The landscapes evoke color newsreel footage from World War II, and much of the combat seems lifted from that era as well. 

When Cage meets the general in charge of that part of the world's forces, he's told he's being sent right into this movie's version of D-Day and is to report for duty immediately. No amount of protest by Cage can halt this assignment, and soon after he joins his unit and learns the rudiments of wearing combat armor (this is one of those science fiction films in which soldiers wear clumping bionic suits festooned with machine guns and other weapons) he dies on the battlefield. Then he wakes up and starts all over. Then he dies again and starts over again. He always knows he's been here before, that he met this person, said that thing, did that thing, made a wrong choice and died. Nobody else does, though. They're oblivious to the way in which Cage, like "Slaughterhouse Five" hero Billy Pilgrim, has come unstuck in time. 

Cage's only allies are a scientist ( Noah Taylor ) who believes the creatures are beating humanity through their mastery of time, and Rita Vrataski ( Emily Blunt ), an Audie Murphy or Sgt. York type who's great for armed forces morale in addition to being an exceptionally gifted killer. Rita has experienced the same temporal dislocation that Cage is now experiencing, but at a certain point it stopped. She recognizes his maddening condition but can no longer share in it. She can, however, offer guidance (and a key bit of information that defines his predicament), and speed up the learning curve by shooting him in the head whenever it becomes obvious that they're going down a wrong road that'll lead to the same fatal outcome. 

Although the film's advertising would never dare suggest such a thing, for fear of driving off viewers who just want the bang bang-boom boom, Cage is a complex and demanding role for any actor. It is especially right for Cruise, in that Cage starts out as a Jerry Maguire-type who'll say or do anything to preserve his comfort, then learns through hard (lethal) experience how to be a good soldier and a good man. He changes as the story tells and retells and retells itself. By the end he's nearly unrecognizable from the man we met in the opening. 

Cruise is hugely appealing here, not just in the early scenes opposite Gleeson in which he's in Tony Curtis mode—he's always fantastic playing a smooth-talking manipulator who's sweating on the inside—but later, where he exhibits the sort of rock-solid super-competence and unforced decency that Randolph Scott brought to Budd Boetticher's westerns. He was always likable, sometimes perfect in the right role, but age has deepened him by bringing out his vulnerability. There's an existential terror in his eyes that's disturbing in a good way, and there are points in which "Edge of Tomorrow" seems to simultaneously be about what it's about while also being about the predicament of a real actor trying to stay relevant in a Hollywood universe that's addicted to computer generated monsters, robots and explosions. Cruise deserves some sort of acting award for the array of yelps and gasps he summons as he's killed by a Mimic or shot in the head by Blunt and then rebooted into another version of the story.

The rest of the cast has less to do because this is Tom Cruise's movie through-and-through, but they're all given moments of humor, terror or simple eccentricity. Taylor often gets cast as brilliant but haunted or ostracized geniuses, and he's effective in another of those roles here. Gleeson, as is so often the case, invests a rather stock character with such humanity that when the character's motivations and responses change, you get the sense that it's because the general is a good and smart man and not because he's just doing what the script needs him to do. Emily Blunt is unexpectedly convincing as a fearless and elegant super-soldier, and of course a magnificent camera subject as well. Director Doug Liman is so enamored with the introductory shot of her rising up off the floor of a combat training facility in a sort of downward facing dog yoga pose that he repeats it many times. The film's only egregious flaw is its attempt to superimpose a love story onto Cruse and Blunt's relationship, which seems more comfortable as a "Let's express our adoration for each other by killing the enemy" kind of thing. 

There's no end to the number of films and novels and other sources to which "Edge of Tomorrow" can be likened. " Groundhog Day " seems to be everyone's reflexive comparison point, but Liman's elaborately choreographed tracking shots and unglamorously visualized European hellscapes evoke " Children of Men ," the creatures themselves have a touch of the Sentinels from the "Matrix" films, and the monsters-vs.-infantry scenes will remind you of James Cameron's " Aliens " and its literary predecessor " Starship Troopers ." ( Bill Paxton , one of the stars of "Aliens," plays Cage's drill sergeant, a mustachioed Kentucky hard-ass with an amusingly sour sense of humor.)   It's also an exceptionally brutal film, so bone-and-skull-crushingly violent and fairy-tale frightening that its PG-13 rating is stupefying. Parents should avoid taking young children who'll be both confused by the fractured narrative and terrified of the Mimics, nightmare creatures that look like razor-tentacled squid and roll across the landscapes like tumbleweeds.

In all, though, "Edge of Tomorrow" is its own thing. One of its most fascinating qualities is its keen judgement of the audience's learning curve. The early sections of the film repeat scenes and dialogue until you get used to the idea of the story as a video game or movie script, but just when you start to think, "Yes, I get it, let's move on," the film has in fact moved on and is now leaving things out because they're not necessary. By the end of the movie the script—which is credited to Christopher McQuarrie and Jez and John Henry Butterworth—has gotten to the point where it's tactically withholding information and waiting for us to figure things out on our own. It repeats key images and lines near the end as well, but always for good reason. When you see the familiar material again you feel different about it, because its meaning has changed. The movie has an organic intelligence and a sense that it, too, exists outside of linear time. It seems to be creating itself as you watch it.  

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film Credits

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive material

113 minutes

Tom Cruise as Lt. Col. Bill Cage

Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski

Brendan Gleeson as General Brigham

Bill Paxton as Master Sergeant Farell

Jonas Armstrong as Skinner

Tony Way as Kimmel

Kick Gurry as Griff

Dragomir Mrsic as Kuntz

Charlotte Riley as Nance

Noah Taylor as Dr. Carter

• Hiroshi Sakurazaka
• Christopher McQuarrie
• Jez Butterworth
• John-Henry Butterworth
• Christophe Beck

Cinematography

• James Herbert

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Edge of Tomorrow ’s Bill Paxton on Trading Quotes With Tom Cruise and Attending James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow’s Wedding

Bill Paxton, as fans love to point out, is one of the few actors who has been killed by a Terminator, an alien,  and  a Predator . And with his latest , Edge of Tomorrow , “add a Mimic to the list,” the actor suggested. “I think the Mimic would take its place in there, too.” The Mimics, of course, are the alien beings that Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, and Paxton try to battle in the film’s Normandy-like invasion. While on set, Cruise, who in the movie is made to relive that day over and over again, tried to get Paxton to relive some moments, too — those caught on film. “We were quoting stuff back and for the entire time,” Cruise told Vulture at the film’s New York premiere. “We would quote the lines for him, we’d get him to do it … from all of Bill Paxton’s movies!  Aliens ,  Weird Science  … his characters are classic! Chet! Classic character! And he loved it. He loved it!” So Vulture tested that out with Paxton, who called from Mexico to talk about Cruise’s quote requests, his mustache, and the time James Cameron flipped him off.

Sorry I missed you at the premiere. Or should I say premieres, since there were three in one day? Yeah, I was really bummed I couldn’t make the trip, because it would have been fun to get on Tom’s jet and fly around and run around. [ Laughs ] It would be a lot of fun. But this came up and I couldn’t get out of it. So I was filming while they were flying. I got some nice emails from Tom and [director] Doug Liman, so it was a drag to get these emails … I haven’t seen it yet. Out here, it’s called  Al filo del mañana . Sounds like, “I’ll feel you up tomorrow,” right? [ Laughs. ]

You’re in Mexico at the moment? Yeah. I’m doing this eight-part miniseries called  Texas Rising , same producers who did  Hatfields & McCoys , and it’s for the History Channel. It’s about the birth of the Republic of Texas, and the Texas Rangers, and I’m getting to play the role of a lifetime as the father of the Republic, Sam Houston. Roland Joffé is directing. We’re actually down in the old movie town, Durango, one of the oldest Spanish Mexican towns in Mexico. The show is with a huge-ass cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser, Thomas Jane. The list just goes on and on. We just started shooting, and we’ve been done here for about two weeks. [ Chuckles ] I shot Club Dread down here, but that was more than ten years ago. That was over in El Tamarindo, at a resort, and a completely different vibe. Completely! It was kind of a different world. [ Laughs. ]

When I talked to Tom Cruise at the premiere, he said he kept you busy on set quoting lines from your classic films and classic characters, such as Weird Science . He couldn’t stop laughing, thinking of Chet. Uff! Always! I don’t need much prompting, not from Tom. I had him doing stuff, too. I was having him do stuff from  Magnolia . Actors always know the credit the other actor is most proud of, so we had a lot of fun with that. We’ve known each other in passing forever, and he’s always been a personable guy. So when I got over there to do the movie, he was like, “Okay! Finally! God damn! Where have you been hiding, man? Let’s do this thing!” And from the get-go, he was saying, “God, you’re killing this thing.” And I’d go, “Um, I haven’t even shot anything yet?” “Well, you’re  going  to kill it.” So he really was supportive. I told him, “You know, the first time I saw you in a film, in that moment I knew. I said to myself, ‘Who is   that  guy?’”

Which film? Which moment? That great moment in  Taps , when all Hell is breaking loose, and the National Guard is fighting the students, and Tim Hutton goes upstairs, and there’s Tom Cruise, and he’s got a 50-caliber machine gun, and he’s shooting out the window. And he just turns and goes, “It’s beautiful, man! Beautiful!” That’s when I was like, “Who is  that guy?” And I told him that, and he laughed. We’ve both been kind of journeymen in Hollywood, for a long time. And we felt like we knew each other, because we had this kind of background, the same film and cultural references, so we just got right to it. I think we think the same way, in terms of how we eat, drink, and sleep film when we’re working on a project. I found all kinds of military books, so I was reading him crazy stories about these guys who had survived insurmountable odds.

Tom also told me that Christopher McQuarrie wrote Master Sergeant Farrell with you in mind.  Yeah, Chris came in, and me and Doug [Liman] and Chris kind of worked that out. There was a thing where we were going to make him from Texas, but then we kind of made him this Kentucky guy. I think one of the best lines is when Tom says, “Oh, you’re American,” and I say, “No, sir, I’m from Kentucky!” And Tom loved that, because he’s originally from Louisville. A lot of people don’t know that. His mother is total Louisville, and she came out to visit, and she’s a Kentucky lady, for sure. So I just played him like Randall McCoy from Kentucky .

If there’s a recurring theme through your body of work, it’s your friendship and collaborations with another director — James Cameron, which started when you were part of his night crew in the art department? You two bonded, and he eventually recruited you for one of his films? Yep, that’s right. Something happened with the guy they were going to hire for  Terminator  for the part of the punk guy ,   something, I don’t know, but I was in Kansas City with my dad, that’s his hometown, and I got a call from Jim, and he said, “Can you be on the set tomorrow night in Griffith Park Observatory?” And I said, “Shit, yeah.” I didn’t tell him I was in Kansas. So I flew home, I think that day, and we went out to the set that night — to see Arnold [Schwarzenegger] naked! [ Laughs ] Oh, God.

You know, I think I got asked to do this one [ Edge of Tomorrow ] because of  Aliens . I think there was a little nod to that, where you kind of learn the rules of a movie and it adds to the entertainment, because we kind of go back and he knows a little more each time. So I’d go from the sergeant who really thinks that he’s in control of his men to a guy who just can’t figure out Tom’s character, like, What the hell? Like, this guy is such a weird enigma! How does he know all this stuff? How can he anticipate what I’m going to say?  And it was kind of an  Aliens  setup, in terms of this J-Squad is a lot like the Colonial Marines, with Jenette Goldstein and all the guys we had in the platoon. So it definitely had some Aliens DNA. [ Chuckles. ]

Did working with Jim Cameron on  Aliens  lead to  Near Dark  for you? Because it feels like a natural outgrowth, given how close Kathryn Bigelow and Jim were, and how it’s a reunion with Jenette Goldstein and Lance Henriksen for you … Near Dark  — so many people ask me to quote from that one, too ! Oh, gosh. I read that script, and I was crazy about it. And then I called Lance up and told  him  about it. And he was like, “Aww, we just did  Aliens , and now you want me to do a vampire movie?” And I was like, “Just read the script.” And then he did, and he was like, “Man, this is good!” I remember, we all went in, me and him and Jenette, the three of us had read separately for Kathryn. And I know she actually called Jim — and this is before they really knew each other very well — and she said, “Jim, so I’ve got these three actors who were in  Aliens . Would it bother you if I cast them?” And I think Jim said, “Well, if they want to do the movie, by all means.”

I got Jim to come down to the set one night, and we were shooting out on the highway, kind of on the way up to Palmdale, doing those vignettes where Jenny Wright’s character is tailing Adrian Pasdar’s character, kind of a series of scenes, building a montage about how we operate, how we move around, how we pick our victims. And there’s a shot of me — I’m in a white shirt, black leather pants, my hair is kind of greased back — I’m all dandified. I’m hitchhiking, and I get picked up by two cowgirls, they pull up in their pickup truck. So Jim was on the set, and we needed somebody to drive by in a car and just, you know, flip me off when I’m hitchhiking. So that’s actually Jim Cameron driving by and flipping me off at the beginning of that! People don’t know that.

I love that. I’ll have to look for that. That was in the fall. And in the summer, I was in an art band called Martini Ranch with a guy named Andy Rosenthal, and he wrote a song called “Reach” that we made a video for, and I got Jim to direct the video . We cast everybody from  Aliens  and  Near Dark , and Jim kind of wrote it as a post-apocalyptic Western where there’s a gender role-reversal where women are riding herd on the men. So we talked Kathryn into being our Clint Eastwood character. She’s got a  Magnificent Seven  of all these tough gals — Jenette’s in there — and all our friends. And I got a bunch of guys from  Aliens , Lance, Paul Reiser, and people like Bud Cort, Judge Reinhold, all these people. That was another place where we all started to get to know each other again. And then I guess Jim and Kathryn’s romance bloomed. Willem Dafoe and I stood in for Kathryn and Jim when they got married, at an old captain’s house in Martha’s Vineyard. It was just Jim’s mom and dad, I think his two siblings, and Kathryn’s parents, and me and my wife Louise and Willem Dafoe and his [then-]wife Liz. It was a midday ceremony, a very private ceremony, and we all went swimming afterwards, in the Sound. It was really cold! [ Laughs ] But it was a really nice week we all spent together in Martha’s Vineyard, when they got married.

Do you remember any of the specific lines Tom asked you to quote from either film? I would imagine “Game over, man” was a recurring one on set, given the film’s video-game qualities … Big time. Let’s see …  “Maybe you haven’t been keeping up with current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!”  You know, I get these lines quoted to me almost daily, if I’m out in public. Yeah. I get a lot of different things. I get  Apollo 13 .  Titanic .  Twister .  Tombstone .  Frailty .  A Simple Plan .  Club Dread . It just depends on who the person is. People love to quote my lines. They really do. I’m really proud of the comedies that I got to do, but there are movies like  A Simple Plan  that I’m really proud of. And then there are the ones that just really hit the Zeitgeist that you don’t really anticipate. People like to pin the tail on the donkey with me on  Weird Science . It’s fine. It’s flattering. I’m proud to have played a character that people still know the name of 25 years later. It might even be more than that.

Almost 30 years since  Weird Science , 28 years since  Aliens  … And we just had an  Aliens  reunion, in Calgary . That was the first time we had all been together since we made the movie, so that was kind of cool. I got to see Sigourney [Weaver], Paul Reiser, Michael Biehn, Jenette, and Lance. It was just a lot of fun to get together, and God, I gotta tell ya, it’s amazing to be a part of a movie that whole other generations have discovered. In a hundred years, they’ll probably be wheeling us out, our cryogenic heads in jars, to do another Q&A about  Aliens ! It’s okay. The only critic you want to satisfy at the end of the day is time, and time’s been kind to me.

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