Amid conflicting reports of what the future holds for the franchise, some of the Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning cast have shared their thoughts on whether Tom Cruise will return. Since it first launched with the movie expansion of the classic spy TV show, the Cruise-led franchise has been one of the most successful of all-time, having thus far grossed over $4.09 billion worldwide. The Mission: Impossible franchise has been enjoying a particularly high ride as nearly every installment helmed by Christopher McQuarrie has landed in the high 90 percentiles on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.

Now, Cruise and McQuarrie are back for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, a continuation of 2023’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning in which Ethan Hunt and his team, now joined by Pom Klementieff’s Paris and Greg Tarzan Davis’ Degas, are racing to find The Enтιтy before Gabriel gets his hands on it. Despite the franchise’s continued success, talks have swirled of the new sequel being the final installment in the series, with Paramount appropriately marketing it as the end. This has made The Final Reckoning even more anticipated when paired with ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning‘s ending, with critics largely praising it so far.

In anticipation of the movie’s release, ScreenRant interviewed Simon Pegg, Angela Bᴀssett and Hayley Atwell to discuss Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. During the chat, the cast members all shared their thoughts on Tom Cruise’s potential future in the franchise, and why they think the four-time Oscar nominee likely isn’t hanging up Ethan’s boots anytime soon.

The Final Reckoning Cast “Can’t Imagine” Cruise Retiring From Mission: Impossible Yet

“He Runs Like A 14-Year-Old Boy.”

Word of The Final Reckoning being the final Mission: Impossible movie began swirling in November 2024, when a report of Cruise’s potential Days of Thunder 2 return indicated Paramount was looking to market the film as such. However, both prior to and after this report, Cruise and McQuarrie have largely indicated the opposite to be the case in their minds, with the duo having begun working on ideas for more films during the press tour for ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, but also now pointing to the new movie holding the answer to the question.

When asked their thoughts on whether Cruise will return for more Mission: Impossible movies, the Final Reckoning cast were fairly confident he would be back as Ethan sometime in the future. Bᴀssett began by echoing our sentiment that we “can’t imagine” the franchise continuing without Cruise at the forefront, expressing that “I bet he’s got some more running to do” and that he will “put those shoes on and get to booking” again at some point.

Pegg approached the question by sharing why he thinks the Mission: Impossible franchise won’t directly set up an original character to take over Ethan’s place, believing that the IMF team all have “a certain set of skills” and are not “interchangeable“, thus making it trickier to put anyone in each other’s places. “Ethan couldn’t do the stuff that Benji does,” Pegg explained. “Ethan couldn’t hack his way out of a paper bag, but Benji could not hang off a plane or go to the bottom of the ocean. They need each other.“

Pegg, who has worked with Cruise on the franchise since Mission: Impossible III, went on to explain that there’s “a symbiosis between all the characters“, and that if “you remove a single member of the team, the whole plan falls apart“. Though acknowledging that a pᴀssing-of-the-torch moment could work if it was “to some younger agents” like Atwell’s Grace or Greg Tarzan Davis’ Degas, he doesn’t “see that happening“. “I don’t think Tom will ever stop being an action star, whether it’s Mission: Impossible or not,” Pegg opined. “He’s not going to quit anytime soon. He runs like a 14-year-old boy.“

Atwell, on the other hand, looked to Cruise’s wider filmography to point out the diversity in his work beyond the Mission: Impossible movies as a sign of where he might go after The Final Reckoning. “You think about things like Born on the Fourth of July, and Risky Business, and A Few Good Men, and Magnolia, and Eyes Wide Shut, and even Tropic Thunder,” Atwell listed. “Jerry Maguire is a personal favorite of mine. He has such range, and I think he has such humanity in all the performances that he’s given us. Collateral is another one, where he played someone that is considered to be definitely not a hero.“

I just think that this is a big part of, obviously, his career, but we’re going to be seeing so much more from him in different mediums.

More About Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

Ethan Hunt and the IMF team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Enтιтy – which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe – with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan’s past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Enтιтy down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.

Check out our other Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning interviews with:

• Hayley Atwell, Angela Bᴀssett, Simon Pegg, Greg Tarzan Davis & Pom Klementieff
• Esai Morales

Source: ScreenRant Plus