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Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning - Is This The End for Ethan?

6/17/2024 • 2 min read

(Updated 11/11/2024)Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning | Cinemark

Tom Cruise's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series has been running strong since the '90s. For half of that run, it has been powered by Cruise's partnership with director Christopher McQuarrie. The two have made three MISSION movies together, or four if you count the franchise's fourth episode, which McQuarrie rewrote and restructured late in the game.

In 2023, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING pitted Ethan Hunt and his crew against a potentially world-dominating artificial intelligence, called simply The Entity. The final showdown between the Impossible Mission Force and that AI adversary is yet to come, in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING, coming in 2025. Here's everything we know about the next MISSION.

What's the Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Release Date?

Paramount Pictures will release MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING in movie theaters on May 23, 2025.

Watch the First Trailer for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

The first trailer for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING is out now! Not only does it give us a good look at the mission crew for this episode — which features a couple of recruits who first showed up in the last movies — but it teases several stunt sequences. The MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 trailer also seems to suggest that this could be the final mission. It's right there in the title, after all!/p>

Will Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Be the Last Movie in the Series?

We don't know! As we just mentioned, the first trailer for THE FINAL RECKONING, not to mention the title, suggest that this is the end of the road for Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt. And even before DEAD RECKONING was released, reporting said that these two movies were planned as a send-off for Ethan Hunt. At the same time, director Christopher McQuarrie has said there are plans for more Mission movies.

Hayley Atwell has clearly been set up as a potential successor to Tom Cruise, but we'll have to wait for Cruise or McQuarrie to say something more official — or for THE FINAL RECKONING to hit theaters — before we make any further guesses.

What Is Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning About?

Even with the first trailer to go on, nearly everything we know at this point about the plot of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 is drawn from the previous movies. But there's a lot to go on!

At the end of DEAD RECKONING, Ethan Hunt was set to go in search of a downed sub called the Sevastopol, in which the source code of The Entity is contained. But that's not an easy task. He's got to find it, for one. And he has to deal with Gabriel, an adversary from Hunt's past who has allied with The Entity.

But Ethan Hunt has some strong allies. There are his most familiar compatriots, Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn. Partway through the last movie, Luther went off on his own to work on researching a way to destroy The Entity. And there's Grace, the thief who ended up working with Hunt and, at the end of DEAD RECKONING, petitioned to become an IMF agent. Finally, there's Paris, Gabriel's former enforcer, who, after being spared by Hunt and left for dead by Gabriel, seems poised to become at least an IMF ally.

All of which is more story setup than story, but it does create a framework from which we can build some expectations about the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 plot. Ethan Hunt has to deal with his past, and find and destroy The Entity. How will all that happen? That… we don't know.

What's That Knife in The Final Reckoning Trailer?

What's That Knife in The Final Reckoning Trailer?

This movie leans heavily on the past, with Henry Czerny's character Eugene Kittridge saying "everything you were, everything you've done, has come to this." Which is a nice bit of dialogue for a trailer, but the footage and story echo that notion.

In the last movie, we learned that Ethan Hunt was driven to join the IMF after something terrible happened to a woman he was close to. We'll likely see more flashbacks to that event in this film. This trailer also features one of the most famous images in the series, with Hunt dropping into a highly protected CIA terminal room. During that scene, Jean Reno's character drops a knife, which is found by William Donloe, a CIA analyst played by Rolf Saxon, as seen in the trailer. The knife disappeared from the story at that point. But we know that Rolf Saxon returns to the cast for this sequel, so perhaps he has kept the knife for all these years.

A Callback to Mission: Impossible III?

A Callback to Mission: Impossible III?

One shot in the new trailer, shown above, seems to be from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III. That chapter has been influential on the series overall as it introduced Michelle Monaghan's character, Julia, who marries Ethan and shows up later in the series, with a pretty big part in FALLOUT.

The third movie featured a plot driven by the hunt for a mysterious object of power dubbed "the Rabbit's Foot," which is the object Ethan Hunt is reaching for in the image above. But after looking at that movie again… we never actually saw this shot in M:I III. We don't see Ethan actually grab the Rabbit's Foot. We only see him fleeing the scene. Is this from deleted footage? Or is it a newly constructed flashback? We don't know!

Additionally, we never learned exactly what the Rabbit's Foot was. The object was a total McGuffin in the classic sense — something the characters chase that doesn't really have any importance beyond driving the plot forward. If that is the Rabbit's Foot in this new trailer, however, maybe we'll finally discover what it was! Maybe it's the key to beating The Entity?

What Will the Big Stunt Sequences Be in Mission: Impossible 8?

We don't know yet, but can make some guesses. For one, there's the airplane stunt which was first teased two years ago, and which makes a big appearance in the new trailer. You can see that teaser video above.

Then there's the sub Sevastopol, which is at the bottom of the ocean. Ethan Hunt will have to reach it, and explore the wreck to recover the source code for The Entity. That's a setup for an underwater sequence which, given Cruise's determination to perform some stunts himself, could top anything done in the series so far.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 is also filming in the UK, Malta, South Africa, and Norway, any of which could play home to other impressive stunts. Filming has also taken place on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, which will likely play into scenes leading to a dive to the Sevastopol.

Is [Redacted] Really Dead?

Skip this part if you haven't seen DEAD RECKONING and don't want to be spoiled on one of the most significant details.

But, yes, the character Ilsa Faust, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is likely dead. She is seemingly killed by Gabriel during a duel in Venice, Italy. While it's reasonable to expect that such a twist could be a fake out, given the nature of this series, comments from Ferguson suggest that she is ready to move on from the very demanding process of making MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies.

Who's in the Mission: Impossible 8 Cast?

Many actors return from previous movies in the series. Tom Cruise plays IMF agent Ethan Hunt; Ving Rhames returns as Luther Stickell; Simon Pegg is back as Benji Dunn, and Henry Czerny returns as Eugene Kittridge, who is now the director of the CIA.

Hayley Atwell reprises the role of Grace, a thief turned IMF agent. Vanessa Kirby returns as weapons dealer and sometime ally Alanna Mitsopolis, aka the White Widow, and Frederick Schmidt returns as Alanna's brother Zola Mitsopolis. Esai Morales is back as the villain Gabriel, Pom Klementieff once again plays Paris, Gabriel's former enforcer and assassin, who is now working with Ethan Hunt. And Mariela Garriga is back as Marie, the woman from the past whose life bound Ethan and Gabriel together.

Then there are Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs and Greg Tarzan Davis as Briggs's partner Degas, the latter of which seems to now be a member of Ethan's team. And Rolf Saxon returns as William Donloe, the CIA analyst who was last seen way back in the original MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie during the CIA break-in. Oh, and we see a lot of Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane, who is now POTUS. DEAD RECKONING teased that fact, as we saw her Presidential portrait on the wall in some government offices.

There are some new faces, too. Holt McCallany appears as Secretary of Defense Bernstein, and Nick Offerman plays the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Katy O'Brian, and Tramell Tillman all have roles, too, but details have not been released about who they play. Expect to learn of many other new additions in the weeks to come.

Who Are the Mission: Impossible 8 Filmmakers?

Much of the behind-the-scenes team returns from the last MISSION movie. Christopher McQuarrie once again directs and co-writes, with Erik Jendresen co-writing the script. Lorne Balfe returns as composer, Eddie Hamilton returns as editor — he has edited all the MISSION movies directed by McQuarrie — and Fraser Taggart once again serves as cinematographer.

 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING opens on May 23, 2025.

 

All images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

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