Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ending spoilers follow.
Ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise had been delivering mixed messages about whether or not this is the final mission for Ethan Hunt.
Initially, he wouldn't be drawn either way and said he just wanted everybody to "see it and enjoy" at the Cannes press conference for the movie. Only days later, he told The Hollywood Reporter that the movie is "not called 'final' for nothing", seemingly confirmed that this is the last Mission: Impossible movie.
In a separate interview with the same outlet, Simon Pegg appeared to echo Cruise's response that it "does feel like an end", adding: "I feel like The Final Reckoning is a really satisfying culmination of these films. It feels like an end to me. It wraps up so much of what's gone before."
However, we don't blame you if after watching The Final Reckoning, you're still not entirely sure whether this really is the end of Mission: Impossible.
But we really think that it should be the last mission for Ethan.
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Fan theories before release had speculated that Ethan would have a Heroic Sacrifice to save the world from the Entity.
Things definitely get dicey in The Final Reckoning, but by the end of the movie, Ethan has survived and the Entity is safely contained in a "5D optical data drive". (We don't fully understand either, but basically, it can't hurt anybody again.)
It technically leaves the door open for Ethan to return for another mission. The same can't be said for Luther, the only other IMF agent to be in every movie to date, who sadly dies early in the movie as he sacrifices himself to stop a bomb destroying London.
Luther does get the final say though as he left a goodbye message on the "poison pill" that helped trap the Entity. He tells Ethan that "the world still needs you", but perhaps with Benji taking on more of a leadership role in the team during the movie, Ethan has decided that he's done with his IMF days.
After all, it's his fault that the world was on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse, given that it was the Rabbit's Foot he stole back in Mission: Impossible III that grew into the Entity. He might have realised that he's had enough close shaves over the years, and retirement is the best course of action.
It's hard to imagine a Mission: Impossible without Ethan Hunt, especially as Cruise not only plays the character, but also has produced the series from the beginning. If Cruise has decided that this is the end, it most likely will be the end of the series.
Realistically though, the decision might be taken out of Cruise's hands. Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning were a huge undertaking with a reported budget of $291 million for the former and the latter potentially costing upwards of $400 million, based on the highest estimates.
Dead Reckoning did well enough at the box office with $571 million worldwide, but that was a step down on Fallout's $791 million haul. To be considered a success, The Final Reckoning will likely need nearer Fallout's numbers and, more likely, it'll need to surpass that movie's total.
If it doesn't, then that will probably spell the end of the series regardless. But if it's a huge box-office success, then conversations will inevitably turn to whether Cruise has the ideas for another movie.
Given how The Final Reckoning is a culmination of every movie to date, with multiple callbacks and links to Ethan's past, it would feel odd to come back for another movie. It would have to be a clean start, essentially Phase Two of the Mission: Impossible universe, and perhaps it's best to just leave Ethan to have a nice rest.
There's always the scope of a spin-off with a potential IMF team led by Benji, with Grace, Paris and Degas. They appear to be Ethan's new team at the end of the movie, but as we've already said, is it even a Mission: Impossible movie without Ethan?
It's possible that the critical reaction to The Final Reckoning – which currently has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of the series outside of the first three movies – will leave Cruise wanting to end the series on a higher note.
Arguably for some fans, in hindsight, the time to end the series on a high note was Fallout and it's impossible to say whether a future movie could hit those heights again. It's a risk that might not be worth taking, one that could harm the general reputation of the series as one of the most consistent around.
The Final Reckoning might not be the perfect finale, but it does at least feel like an ending to the series without the need to end it on a downer like Ethan dying. So as much as we'll miss him.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in cinemas now.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
