Is Mission: Impossible Series Really Ending With The Final Reckoning?

The following story contains some broad spoilers for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

FOR NEARLY 30 years, movie fans have rejoiced a few times per decade to check in with Ethan Hunt—the death-defying secret agent of the IMF (Impossible Missions Force)—and the results, more often than not, have been spectacular. While Tom Cruise has built one of the most impressive movie star careers of the last 50 years, appearing in some of the most iconic films of all time and working with legendary directors like Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Steven Spielberg, among others, it’s his work as both the star and chief producer of the Mission: Impossible series that might stand the test of time as his ultimate legacy.

The eighth film in the series, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, is now in theaters, and the title alone invites questions. The final reckoning? How final are we talking? All good things must come to an end, after all. But would Mission: Impossible ever really end? That much is up for debate.

Now, before we get into any analysis on the actual movie, we should clarify that there have been times in the past where it seemed like the Mission: Impossible series, at least as we knew it, was over. Keep in mind the six year gap between Mission: Impossible II and Mission: Impossible III. Remember the period of time when it seemed like Jeremy Renner was poised to become the new lead in the franchise, taking the baton from Cruise in Ghost Protocol (though he ended up being an underrated supporting character in the fourth and fifth films in the series).

But also remember that The Final Reckoning was originally simply called Dead Reckoning Part II. This wasn’t always meant to be a grand finale—at least, not in the marketing. But will it prove to be? Let’s break it all down.

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So, is The Final Reckoning really going to be the last Mission: Impossible movie?

The question remains: Will The Final Reckoning actually be the last Mission: Impossible movie?

“It’s the final,” Tom Cruise said at a recent premiere event for the film. “It’s not called ‘Final’ for nothing.”

Generally speaking, the ‘Final’ language used around the film has been consistent. Even in cross-pollination kind of events, like Cruise and Michael B. Jordan taking a photo together, have pointed toward The Final Reckoning being a resolution for everything.

“I was too young to see the first Mission Impossible in the theater,” Jordan wrote in an Instagram post. “…but now I get a chance to watch the final one… in IMAX!!!!”

Certainly, The Final Reckoning being a final chapter is what audiences are being pushed to think. And, at least for a while, we’re going to take their word for it. But we need to look at a couple other factors when it comes to this movie specifically, and the Mission: Impossible franchise, before we can fully close the book.

First of all, while The Final Reckoning does spend a lot of time recounting things and some specific moments from throughout the seven prior films in the series—including archival footage throughout—(SPOILER ALERT!) it doesn’t end with anything definitively changing that would prevent another movie from coming out, focusing on these same core characters. When the credits begin to roll, Ethan Hunt is A-OK, set up with an IMF team more than ready to save the world once agin.

There’s also the real-life factor. The Mission: Impossible movies have been making a lot of money for Paramount for many, many years. And if The Final Reckoning proves to be a success, that’s all the more reason to do another movie under this umbrella. The movies have become a recognizable and beloved brand over the last 30 years, yes, but the fact that it comes from a TV series that aired 171 episodes in the ’60s and ’70s, and has an instantly recognizable theme song… there’s a lot here that will continue to be very valuable.

The other hand of things, though, is that Cruise clearly wants to take a break from this series, and focus on other things. His next movie, an untitled genre-bending dramedy directed by two-time Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant) is already in production; the IMDB plot description reads as such:

The most powerful man in the world causes a disaster and embarks on a mission to prove that he is the savior of humanity.

Clearly, this represents Cruise wanting to pivot back toward the character-driven films like A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut, and Magnolia that defined a large chunk of his career.

Still, Cruise has alluded toward a desire to never retire, and make the kinds of movies he’s made his entire career, well, forever. “I actually said I’m going to make movies into my 80s; actually, I’m going to make them into my 100s,” Cruise told THR. “I will never stop. I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films—I’m excited.”

With Tom wanting to do action films forever, and the movie itself leaving the door open, we’re willing to bet that some day, one way or another, we’ll see Ethan Hunt on the big screen in a Mission: Impossible movie again. When will that be? Who knows.

Let’s consider the kind of thing that Cruise loves, and has always loved: Movie Star Tradition. If you think about one of Cruise’s first major roles, in The Color of Money, that film saw Paul Newman (one of the all-time great Hollywood stars) symbolically pass the baton to Cruise as the new generation of movie star in 1986 (The Color of Money is a quasi-sequel to one of Newman’s classic films, The Hustler, where he reprises his role as a pool shark more than two decades later; He won the Oscar that year.). Everyone knows Hollywood in the present-day loves a legacy sequel, so what if some day we see an older Ethan Hunt allow Tom Cruise to do for someone else what Paul Newman once did for him?

It’s a fun idea in theory, but might be easier said than done. Through the years of Cruise’s stewardship, the Mission: Impossible franchise has become known for two things specifically: Tom Cruise himself, and death defying stunts. If you’re going to even hint at the idea of finding someone to replace the former, you cannot possibly get rid of the latter. And finding someone who can do even a fraction of what Cruise does is going to be a true challenge (because, spoiler alert, no one else comes close). But at this point, you need it. Is Glen Powell willing to hang off of the Goodyear Blimp? Would Aaron Pierre consider scaling the pyramids in Egypt? If someone wants to be seriously considered for the Paul Newman-esque Tom Cruise handoff, these are the things they’d have to be willing to do.

The ultimate answer to the question is that, for now at least, indeed, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is the last movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Tom Cruise isn’t going to suddenly show up next year saying “Just kidding—we’re back!” But the possibility of Mission: Impossible returning in the future, in any number of forms, is wide open, and something that could certainly still work in a number of major ways. And as with every Mission: Impossible movie, we’ll be watching.