It’s been a minute since actor Jeremy Renner has been seen mixing it up with the ranks of the IMF. Absent from the Mission: Impossible movies since 2015’s Rogue Nation, Renner’s William Brandt was once introduced as Ethan Hunt’s potential replacement, but became another loyal member of his team. And now, after almost a decade off the board, Renner is ready to return for more Mission mayhem; and I couldn’t think of a better time to make it happen.
What Jeremy Renner Has Said About Returning For More Mission: Impossible
As Jeremy is getting reacquainted with the audience through his return to Paramount+’s original drama Mayor of Kingstown, the promotional rounds have seen the MCU vet talking up why he’d even left in the first place. In an interview with Collider, Jeremy Renner provided the following version of events, along with his hopes for a return to Mission: Impossible:
Yeah. I had to leave that. I was supposed to do more with them. ... I love that character a lot. It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn't gonna work out then. Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen. I'd always jump into a Mission: Impossible anytime and back into Brandt.
Originally, it sounded like commitments for Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were the sole factor in keeping Jeremy out of the game. Back when he promoted Mission: Impossible - Fallout, co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie cited Marvel scheduling woes as the key to preventing William Brandt’s cinematic return.
Now that we have a fuller picture on what stood in the way of Jeremy Renner’s Mission return, and his excitement to get back into play, let’s talk about why this is absolutely perfect timing.
Why A Post-Mission: Impossible 8 Return For Brandt Is Perfect Timing
As I had mentioned at the top of the story, it seemed like the whole purpose of Jeremy Renner’s character in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was to provide us with a potential new point man for the IMF team. With the original ending to director Brad Bird’s entry into the canon intent on Ethan Hunt becoming the new IMF secretary, the deck would be clear for a new lead.
Considering there are rumors of Tom Cruise’s Mission departure taking place after 2025’s Mission: Impossible 8, having William Brandt back along for the ride would be rather fitting. Ethan Hunt could still easily become the IMF secretary, with Brandt taking his spot as the intrepid team leader.
While there’s still a question of how Jeremy Renner would handle the physically demanding stunts that Cruise made so commonplace in this saga, his eagerness to get back in the game is enough to start having this conversation. Plus since Mission 8 is still filming, there’s time to throw in a Brandt cameo that sets up that type of future for the long run; giving Mr. Renner more time to prepare for such physicality.
Of course, there’s the possibility that, much as Christopher McQuarrie has hinted, Mission: Impossible will have Tom Cruise steering the acting ship beyond the ninth installment. In which case, it’d still be exciting to see Ethan and William mix it up like they did so long ago.
No matter what angle you look at this scenario from, one thing is clear: Jeremy Renner should absolutely come back to the IMF, and the sooner this can happen, the better. If you need proof of why Jeremy works so well in this franchise ecosystem, you can watch all seven Missions to date in one convenient location.
For IMF agents, those logs are currently limited to physical copies in the archives, under operation security protocols to protect that information against The Entity. Or, if you want to do things the civilian way, you can use your Paramount+ subscription to light this particular fuse.
