Some things we know about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning are not in question. We can be fairly confident that the film will include some incredible action sequences and that Tom Cruise will risk to life doing insane things. We already know that Cruise will be hanging from airplanes at some point. However, there are also some big questions about the movie. Like, will this be the last Mission: Impossible movie?
There are certainly some indications that Tom Cruise may be getting ready to wrap up his time as Ethan Hunt, not the least of which is the new movie’s title, which certainly indicates it will be the “final” piece of the franchise. However, Cruise’s co-star Haley Atwell and I are clearly on the same page, as her recent comments to The Guardian indicate that while she’s leaning toward thinking this is the end, she’s far from certain. Atwell said…
I mean, look, they called it The Final Reckoning. On the other hand, ‘Tom Cruise’ and ‘final’ are oxymorons, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes: ‘Wait, maybe …’ Although he has so many things he is working on, so I can’t see how another Mission would fit into that.
Sometimes franchises tell us the "end" is coming because they want people to be prepared for what's on the way. Other times, it's an intentional misdirection. It's, pun intended, impossible to know for sure which this is. I certainly can't tell.
From the moment it was announced that Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie were going to make two Mission: Impossible movies back-to-back fans wondered if this was going to act as a sort of “grand finale” for the franchise. While the director and star have been cagey about the possibility that this could be the end, they certainly haven’t denied that possibility. And with the new movie’s title being what it is, it certainly seems to be teasing such an end.
At the same time, it’s hard to imagine Tom Cruise stopping anything that he enjoys doing, and by all accounts, he loves making Mission: Impossible movies. If he wants to keep making them, he certainly will. Even if the current plan is for this to be the end, it doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind down the road and go back to it. Even if the last movie kills off Ethan Hunt, which is far from guaranteed, they could almost certainly justify bringing him back if they want to.
As Atwell points, out, the biggest hurdle to future Mission: Impossible movies right now may be the fact that Tom Cruise rarely seems to stand still for too long. The list of upcoming Tom Cruise movies is always long. If there aren’t plans to make more movies, then finding time in his schedule to make one down the road is going to be tough.
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