The fate of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has been a major question going into Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but the franchise may already have confirmed what will happen to the character. Since the ending of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, questions have been raised about the next installment in the long-running series. At first, the eighth installment was set to be subtitled Dead Reckoning Part 2 before updates about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning confirmed the new title.
Regardless of the title change, theories about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning have been commonplace. The most common theories surround the many characters of Mission: Impossible 8’s cast, with audiences questioning who will make it out of the film alive. From the fate of Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn to the potential death of Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell, it is unclear which of the franchise’s beloved heroes will survive. Perhaps the most theorized character death is Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, but an earlier installment in the franchise may already have revealed his fate.
Christopher McQuarrie, director of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, is teasing the Tom Cruise movie, and audiences are seemingly in for a thrilling film.
In what is reportedly the final film of the franchise starring Cruise, McQuarrie said that an audience member at an early screening had quite the reaction.
“We had a small screening, and someone said, ‘I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack.’ And I thought, ‘I guess we did something right,” McQuarrie told Empire, according to GamesRadar.
McQuarrie didn’t reveal what action sequence made the audience member feel that way, but the trailer for the film had Cruise’s Ethan Hunt fighting off enemies underwater, off of planes, and many more jaw-dropping scenes.
The filmmaker returned to direct the latest Mission: Impossible installment, which he has been a part of since 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation. McQuarrie also directed 2018’s Fallout and 2023’s Dead Reckoning.
The Final Reckoning Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell and Frederick Schmidt.
Others making their Mission: Impossible debut in the eighth installment include Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Katy O’Brian and Stephen Oyoung.
Angela Bassett is also returning to the Mission: Impossible franchise in Final Reckoning to reprise her role as CIA Director Erika Sloane, which she originated in 2018’s Fallout.
Regardless of the title change, theories about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning have been commonplace. The most common theories surround the many characters of Mission: Impossible 8’s cast, with audiences questioning who will make it out of the film alive. From the fate of Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn to the potential death of Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell, it is unclear which of the franchise’s beloved heroes will survive. Perhaps the most theorized character death is Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, but an earlier installment in the franchise may already have revealed his fate.
The installment in question is Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Upon the film’s release and the story it told, many assumed that Jeremy Renner‘s William Brandt was being set up as the long-term replacement for Tom Cruise should the latter actor depart the franchise. Although this has been somewhat debunked by the actors involved, it is the long-held belief of the audience and industry insiders that Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was looking to usher the franchise away from Cruise‘s Hunt to a new hero altogether.
Evidently, this potential plan did not come to fruition. Since the film was released in 2011, Cruise has gone on to star in four more Mission: Impossible movies when counting 2025‘s The Final Reckoning. The undeniable talent Cruise has for epic, over-the-top stunts, his chemistry with the rest of the cast, and his lovable performance as Hunt proved somewhat irreplaceable, with Renner’s character even being absent from the franchise since Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.