Director Christopher McQuarrie has explained why Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt survived his last, seemingly impossible mission in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. When it was confirmed that The Final Reckoning was meant to be the concluding movie in the franchise (though anything is possible in Hollywood), audiences began speculating about Ethan Hunt’s fate. Would defeating the malicious AI known as the Entity prove to be his undoing?

Speaking to Empire, McQuarrie revealed that there had been a moment when he considered how Hunt’s death might narratively impact Cruise’s final, death-defying stunt and the film’s ending. In a battle between two tiny biplanes high above South Africa’s stunning natural landscape, it’s ultimately Ethan’s nemesis, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who dies during that fight, his head unceremoniously smashed against his plane’s rudder when he tries to escape.

When did McQuarrie feel the temptation to make that scene Ethan Hunt’s last one, as well? Empire reported:

Ever since the title The Final Reckoning was announced, the rumour mill cranked up over whether Ethan Hunt would die saving the day. It wasn’t a (mission) impossibility. “Everything is on the table,” recalls McQ. “There was a moment in the editing of the final sequence of the movie where Ethan goes spinning into that cloud bank where I thought, ‘If you cut to his grave right now, you’d feel the sacrifice was sufficient. Wow, that’s very, very effective.’”

Despite how effective (and shocking) Ethan Hunt’s potential death may have been, McQuarrie decided it wasn’t right for the character or the narrative.

Ultimately, though, killing off Ethan Hunt didn’t feel like an actual ending. “The idea of a conclusion of a story being the death of that character… they are not one and the same,” says McQ. Instead, the mission itself is over – and audiences are left to imagine for themselves whatever the future has in store for Ethan. “When you fully tie off the story, the story ceases to be. And that’s not life,” McQ explains. “Stories go on, whether or not the movies do.”

How Ethan Hunt’s Survival Affected The Final Reckoning

Could There Be Another Impossible Mission In The Future?

Of course, killing off Ethan Hunt in The Final Reckoning would have meant that the door to any future Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible installments would have been firmly shut. McQuarrie didn’t fully rule out the possibility of a Mission: Impossible return at some distant point in the future, though.

“Tom Cruise is a force of nature, and a very, very tricky one,” he told Empire, but added, “I’d only do it if it was the movie I desperately wanted to make.”

While fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise might shed a tear watching this emotional tribute, all audiences will be swept away by its action.

Now, though, as McQuarrie explained, Ethan’s story still lives on, whether we get to see him bravely fling himself off a cliff again or not. There’s also the question of where Ethan Hunt’s adventures could go after The Final Reckoning. What’s bigger, more dangerous, more impossible than containing an AI program that managed to hack into the entire world’s nuclear arsenal?

At some point, we have to admit that Ethan Hunt pulled off his most daring and ludicrous mission yet. He didn’t have to die for the franchise to find its perfect ending. Ethan may live on, but this part of his life is rightfully over.

Our Take On Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s Biggest Death

Of course, if Ethan wasn’t going to die, someone else had to. You can’t be on a mission dealing with bombs and nuclear warheads and sunken submarines and frozen wastelands and have everyone make it to the end of the film. There needed to be real stakes, and for Ethan, the biggest worry was losing one of his friends.

There needed to be real stakes, and for Ethan, the biggest worry was losing one of his friends.

One of the reasons Ethan Hunt and Mission: Impossible feel different from other similar action-thriller-adventure spy movies is that Ethan has genuinely close friends and family. He’s not a loner, like James Bond. Ethan wants to complete his missions, yes, but he doesn’t want to do it at the cost of his friends’ lives.

Though this facet of his character has led to some unfortunate losses – I’m still not over Ilsa Faust’s (Rebecca Ferguson) death in Dead Reckoning – it also raises the stakes for Ethan and the audience.

If Ethan Hunt was meant to survive The Final Reckoning, then either Benji (Simon Pegg) or Luther (Ving Rhames) had to lose. In the end, it was Luther who made the sacrifice (though Benji came close enough), a heartbreaking moment that ultimately ties beautifully into the film’s biggest themes. As McQuarrie told Empire, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is about trust and sacrifice; Luther embodied both.