Tramell Tillman goes from Lumon Industries' severed floor to the decks of a submarine in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
Severance star Tillman, 39, caught up with PEOPLE at the new Mission: Impossible movie's New York City premiere on Sunday, May 18. In The Final Reckoning, the actor portrays a character named Captain Bledsoe, who operates a secretive U.S. submarine and plays a pivotal role in Ethan Hunt's quest to stop the movie's artificial intelligence villain, known as the Entity.
"So primarily I worked with Tom Cruise, and I was just hoping that I didn't mess it up," Tillman confesses. "Tom is such a wonderful scene partner and he creates a really safe environment for me to do what I need to do and other actors as well. So it was a delight to work with him."
Paramount Pictures and Skydance
Tillman told Entertainment Weekly recently that he wast cast in The Final Reckoning in large part due to director Christopher McQuarrie, who he told the outlet "is a big fan of Severance."
When McQuarrie asked Tillman to set up a Zoom meeting to chat, "He went on to talk about Mission: Impossible, and he said that there was a role in it for me," Tillman told EW. "And I asked him, I said, 'Well, what do we do from here? What's the deal?' He said, 'You think about it, and if you want to take the role, it's yours.' "
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Tillman said that he was cast before Severance's second season began filming. "I ended the meeting and I closed my laptop, and I jumped up and down, and ran around my apartment, and called my team and I said, 'Listen, I know that we're gearing up to film for season 2 of Severance, but we got to figure this out.' "
After Mission: Impossible, Tillman is looking forward to a number of upcoming projects, including Severance's third season, a new movie titled Variance Code and another titled Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother with Mahershala Ali. Tillman tells PEOPLE he cannot not "say too much" about that project yet. "But I think it's a really good story. It's a powerful moving and touching story."
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now in theaters. For more on the franchise, including exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes photos, PEOPLE’s special edition is out now.
