Hannah Waddingham Defends Tom Cruise From Trolls, Calls Him ‘Inspiring’ and ‘Gorgeous’

Hannah Waddingham, who stars alongside Tom Cruise in the upcoming ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2,’ has a bone to pick with the actor’s haters

Hannah Waddingham and Tom CruiseAraya Doheny/WireImage; JC Olivera/Getty Images

Hannah Waddingham has a message for the Tom Cruise haters.

The actress, who stars alongside Cruise in the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2, revealed during a recent appearance on James Martin’s Saturday Morning that she has a “real problem” with anyone who takes jabs at the actor.

“Having spent five days with him intensely on the [USS George H.W. Bush], no fineries, all this mucking in… he is without doubt one of the most lovely, encouraging, positive, inspiring human beings I have ever met,” she said. “Isn’t he gorgeous? I have no time for anyone saying anything about him.”

Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed via Instagram in March the news that Waddingham would be joining the Mission: Impossible family, sharing a photo of the Ted Lasso actress on set. “And Hannah Waddingham… #Godspeed #DeadReckoning,” he wrote.

Waddingham will star alongside Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson and Pom Klementieff in the film, which is slated to be released in 2025. As of June, McQuarrie hadn’t figured out the ending of Dead Reckoning Part 2, telling Collider that he and Cruise “never obsess” over a plan.

“We always have a direction; we always have a place we’re going,” he explained. “You are definitely flying in a direction, you’re definitely prepared. You couldn’t be that cavalier without somebody getting seriously physically hurt. These things are planned within an inch of their life. Along the way, we see a shiny object and go for it.”