Hard to believe Tom Cruise has been starring in Mission: Impossible flicks for 26 years. That’s a lot of hard stunts and more than a few injuries. And while he’s got plenty of action flicks left in that 59-year-old body, it might be time for Ethan Hunt to go on his final mission.
According to Variety in their piece about the chaotic production on Mission: Impossibles 7 & 8, they say the ultimate plan is “for the seventh and eighth films to serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character,” and a “culmination of the entire series.”
Both films were recently pushed back, with the trade saying that Cruise wants a “seamless” transition between the two stories, the first which is expected to end of a cliffhanger. Makes sense if you’re telling a massive two-part finale.
Now, we’ve sorta been down this route before. In 2011 it looked as if Cruise was on the verge of being replaced by the red-hot Jeremy Renner at the time. Renner appeared in two M:I movies as William Brandt, but never took over as the top guy. But if Cruise is really done, now might be the time to pass that torch.
Mission: Impossible 7 now opens on July 14th 2023, with the sequel slotted for June 28th 2024.
