WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

The most impressive action accomplishment in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was shockingly not even performed by the face of the franchise, Tom Cruise. While Cruise has been performing death-defying stunts as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise for decades, he is far from the only actor to get their hands dirty during the films’ various action sequences and signature fight scenes. Cruise pulled off his greatest Mission: Impossible stunt yet in The Final Reckoning by not only hanging onto the side of a vintage biplane but also making difficult maneuvers on its wing.

It seems wildly unfair that, after all Cruise and the Mission: Impossible franchise have done to innovate and push the boundaries of stunt work on film, the Academy Awards won’t be handing out Best Stunt Oscars until 2028. That could be reason enough for Cruise to return for a ninth Mission: Impossible movie, even though it was speculated based on the film’s тιтle that The Final Reckoning would be his last. With Top Gun 3 currently projected for a 2027 release, it could become eligible for the first round of Best Stunt Academy Award nominees at the 100th Oscars ceremony.

Hayley Atwell Did Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s Big Fight Scene 8 Months Pregnant

Atwell Pulled Off The Most “Impossible” Stunt In The Final Reckoning

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning star Hayley Atwell revealed during a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she shockingly filmed a fight scene while she was 8 and a half months pregnant. The stunning news arrived toward the end of her interview with Fallon as she was promoting the eighth Mission: Impossible movie on the late-night platform. “During this fight sequence – we came back to it a few times to add a few elements to it – and in this clip, I’m actually eight-and-a-half months pregnant,” Atwell revealed to Fallon.

The scene Atwell is referring to in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning happens rather early in the film as she and Ethan fight a number of armed ᴀssailants who were intending to torture them for information. Ethan takes a pretty good beating from a brutish fighter as Atwell employs a handful of martial arts techniques against her opponent before he tries to drive a knife into her throat. The scene is evidently very physically taxing, which makes it even more astonishing that Atwell was so far into her third trimester of pregnancy when it was filmed.

Hayley Atwell Doing The Final Reckoning’s Action While Pregnant Is More Impressive Than Tom Cruise’s Stunts

While Tom Cruise’s stunts are super impressive throughout his entire Mission: Impossible franchise, what Atwell pulled off during a fight scene while that far along in pregnancy is unheard of. What’s even more surprising is that it’s impossible to tell that she’s that far along in her pregnancy during the scenes. This raises questions about whether her baby bump was digitally removed or simply not captured on camera with specific angles and lenses. Atwell’s announcement is quite incredible, but unfortunately, Fallon doesn’t have any follow-up questions for her, leaving the audience stunned but hanging.

Cruise has risked his body and life for his films on many occasions, and nothing can diminish his unparalleled filmmaking and stunt efforts. There must have been at least a slight degree of risk for Atwell performing those types of movements so far into her pregnancy, but what’s most impressive is that she was still able to pull them off on a convincing level.

Atwell also added during the Fallon interview, “I was taken such good care of. Everyone was so supportive and they were like, ‘Oh, you can sit down and we’ll have a stunt double do it.’ And I was like, ‘No, I’ve worked too hard! Let me do it.’ So, I did it.” Atwell was referring to the months of training she did to prepare for her role in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning as a world-class pickpocket named Grace.