It’s been 26 years since we were introduced to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, and with two more Mission: Impossible films underway, word has it that this could be Cruise’s final time portraying the legendary agent.
In a new report from Variety, it’s been said that the next two films will be sending off the character of Ethan Hunt. They specifically write, “the plan is for the seventh and eighth films to serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character,” and they also say that the films will be the “culmination of the entire series.”
While the Mission: Impossible movies are definitely not Marvel films, they have managed to keep going for the past few years with solid entries every time. They don’t have any superheroes, but with every MI entry, you can bet there’s a crazy dangerous stunt/setpiece, and Cruise is going to be doing a lot of it himself.
With Tom Cruise turning 60 this year, there’s no way that he could keep playing the demanding role of Ethan Hunt forever. Maybe this way, he at least gets to send the character off with a bang. Should we expect someone else to take on the Mission: Impossible mantle with Cruise gone? It was said that they were trying to do that when Jeremy Renner came onboard during Ghost Protocol, but he definitely doesn’t have the same star status that Cruise had when he started working on these films. Sorry, Hawkeye.
Mission: Impossible 7 comes out July 14, 2023 and Mission: Impossible 8 hits theaters June 28, 2024.
