James Corden has revealed that Tom Cruise was “adamant” about appearing on the final episode of The Late Late Show.
Corden’s US talk show comes to an end in the early hours of Friday morning (28 April), with a primetime special (titled The Last Last Late Late Show Karaoke Special) airing shortly before.
Cruise, who has made a number of memorable appearances on Corden’s show in the past, will feature in the primetime special in a segment themed around The Lion King.
Appearing on Lorraine on Thursday (27 April), Corden teased Cruise’s role on the show.
“We’ve got some big stuff planned,” said the former Gavin and Stacey star. “We have a really big bit with Tom Cruise, who was pretty adamant that he come up and film something.
“I mean, think about that. He’s ridiculous. Eight, nine years ago, Tom Cruise wasn’t even a human being to me. He was like a sort of Marvel superhero.”
The presenter added that he had had a “great time” with Cruise in recent years. “We’ve got to do things together like jumping out of airplanes,” he recalled.
Last year, Cruise and Corden together recreated a sensational aerial stunt from Cruise’s 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick.
Four years previously, the pair had shot another stunt for The Late Late Show, in which they jumped out of an aeroplane.
While Corden kept schtum about the exact details of Cruise’s latest appearance, it’s been reported that the stunt will see the duo gatecrash a Broadway performance of The Lion King, dressed as the anthropomorphic animal characters Pumba and Timon.
Corden and Cruise will then sing one of the numbers from the hit musical show.
Also airing as part of the Karaoke Special episode will be Corden’s second “Carpool Karaoke” segment with Adele. The first, recorded back in the early days of The Late Late Show, has registered over 250 million views on YouTube.
Find everything you need to know about Corden’s final Late Late Show episode here.
