Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is rapidly approaching, and that means its time to start watching or rewatching key installments of the franchise and Tom Cruise’s filmography to prepare. The eighth installment of the long-running action franchise hits theaters on May 23, 2025. Anticipation is sky-high to see how Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie build on Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning‘s ending and, potentially, wrap up the entire series and Ethan Hunt’s journey.

As is common whenever a major franchise gets a new installment, the excitement leading up to the release brings existing fans to rewatch previous installments. It also opens the door for newer viewers to check out entries they’ve missed or watch them all for the first time. That certainly applies to the Mission: Impossible movies ahead of The Final Reckoning‘s release. There are at least a few of the prior movies that are absolute must-see viewing options. Even some of Tom Cruise’s movies outside the franchise may be worth adding to a rewatch schedule.

Which Mission: Impossible Movies To Watch Before The Final Reckoning

Some Are More Important Than Others

There are a few different ways to approach a Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning rewatch. Watching all the Mission: Impossible movies ahead of The Final Reckoning is the best option. That’s largely due to the way The Final Reckoning is being positioned as the end of the franchise. If that is the case, the culmination of Ethan Hunt’s story will certainly be more fulfilling with a complete understanding of his history.

I’ve been a fan of these movies for as long as I can remember, and I always welcome an excuse to watch them all again. But, I also understand that there may be some who don’t want to commit to watching seven films, potentially for the first time, just to be caught up for The Final Reckoning. With that in mind, there are a few installments that are known to be more pressing for the story being told in the franchise’s potentially final chapter.

The marketing for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has put a heavier emphasis on three of the previous seven films in terms of their importance to the new movie. Those movies are the original Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible III, and Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning. So if you’re in a time crunch, the first, third, and seventh Mission: Impossible movies are the most important to see before The Final Reckoning.

1996’s Mission: Impossible has major connections to The Final Reckoning, with Hunt’s break in at Langley and history with CIA analyst William Donloe among the most important. Mission: Impossible III appears to have a surprising relevancy to this next installment with the repeated connections to Rabbit’s Foot, the mysterious MacGuffin from the third entry. Lastly, Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning holds a lot of importance for The Final Reckoning since it is the film that introduced the Enтιтy. The eighth film is directly building on all of ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning‘s storylines.

But again, the optimal decision is to watch all the Mission: Impossible movies before this new film. There’s no telling what other surprise connections Cruise and McQuarrie could fit into the film. You may be able to understand most of the story by watching the three aforementioned films, but key context will certainly be missing if you skip four of the other films. Plus, McQuarrie has worked on the last four films in some capacity, so threads from each could factor into The Final Reckoning.

Options For When To Start Watching The Mission: Impossible Movies Before The Final Reckoning

A Few Different Options Exist

With potentially seven movies to watch before The Final Reckoning, depending on which ones you choose to watch, it’s essential to determine the right time to start checking them out. It’s already too late to do a simplified rewatch schedule of tackling one installment per week unless you only choose to watch Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible III, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning. If you’re only doing that, then you could wait until May 2nd and watch one the next two Fridays before seeing The Final Reckoning in theaters over opening weekend.

If you’re planning to watch all seven Mission: Impossible movies ahead of time, as I am, then the best option is a two-film-per-week schedule. You can start by watching Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible II the week of April 27-May 3, Mission: Impossible III and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol the week of May 4-10, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible – Fallout the week of May 11-17, and then finish up with ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning sometime on May 19-21 before seeing The Final Reckoning in theaters opening night or that weekend.

There’s also the rewatch options more akin to a true Mission: Impossible marathon, where you watch one movie per day before seeing The Final Reckoning. If you plan on seeing the new film on opening night, May 22, and want to do the one-per-day schedule, then you need to start the rewatch on May 16. If you are waiting until the proper opening weekend, then adjust back one day per each you’re waiting.

If you want to do a legit Mission: Impossible marathon and watch all seven previous films back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back before going directly to a The Final Reckoning showing, then you’ll need to carve out 15 hours and 34 minutes of free time. That time commitment could be slightly trimmed by removing credits, since the franchise has zero post-credits scenes.

The only way to do any of these rewatch options, currently, is at home. There are no confirmed plans for each Mission: Impossible movie to receive limited theatrical re-releases. So you’ll either need to own them all, have a Paramount+ subscription, or be willing to rent or buy them on digital to do any rewatch.

There Are Other Tom Cruise Movies That Are Worth Watching Before The Final Reckoning Too

A Few Additional Movies If There’s Time

Beyond just watching all the Mission: Impossible movies, there’s also an argument to be made for some other Tom Cruise movies to be part of a The Final Reckoning rewatch list. This is due to how the film continues his long-standing partnership with Christopher McQuarrie. The pair have worked on five Mission: Impossible movies together, but they’ve also collaborated on five other films. Those include Valkyrie, Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, The Mummy, and Top Gun: Maverick. McQuarrie is a credited screenwriter on each, with Jack Reacher being the first Tom Cruise movie that he directed.

While the duo have plans to continue working together even if Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ends the franchise, watching some of their other work helps bring some greater appreciation to this series. They’ve come a long way from doing Jack Reacher, while Top Gun: Maverick rivals the quality of the best Mission: Impossible movies have ever been. Tom Cruise may still make more action movies after Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but it’s still fun to look back at some of his other modern hits and failures in the genre.