Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was a huge box office disappointment, with this fact making the act of replacing Tom Cruise so much harder. Although Tom Cruise has been the face of the Mission: Impossible movie series since the very beginning, there has been some speculation as to whether he will be replaced, allowing another star to lead the franchise into the future. However, this seems unlikely after the failure of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, with it being near impossible to pull this trick off in the face of the box office returns.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was meant to be the most ambitious entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise, with it making the bold move to market itself as the first half of a two-part saga. However, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’s $565.7 million disappointment left a lot to be desired, causing the studio to attempt to recoup what the failure did to the franchise. While the seventh film was critically-acclaimed, it had a lot of competition in the form of Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with these facts shaking up the franchise’s future.

Related The Mission: Impossible 8 release date is set for 2025, and there’s intense speculation on what’s next for Ethan Hunt after Dead Reckoning Part One.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Struggled Even With Tom Cruise

Replacing Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible franchise will be even harder now, as the seventh movie in the series struggled even with the help of Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is one of the biggest stars currently working today, with him headlining the massive 2022 box office success that was Top Gun: Maverick. Fresh off the back of Top Gun: Maverick, it was expected that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One would be a massive hit, helped by the lead actor’s starpower. However, this didn’t happen, as too many factors were working against the film.

As has already been mentioned, one of the biggest factors working against Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was its competition, with it being released soon after the newest Indiana Jones movie and quickly losing its IMAX screenings to Oppenheimer. The film is also the seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise, with this hurdle of franchise knowledge turning a lot of viewers off from watching the movie. On top of all that, the film was also marketed as part one of a duology, something that has been known to not appeal to audiences.

Will Tom Cruise Actually Leave Mission: Impossible Behind?

While there has been a lot of speculation as to who will replace him, it still isn’t known if Tom Cruise will actually leave Mission: Impossible behind. Much of Cruise’s recent work has been on Mission: Impossible movies, with his dedication to the franchise far exceeding that of any other series he has been involved with. Tom Cruise’s entire persona of an action star who does his own stunts comes from Mission: Impossible, and leaving the franchise would be a big career decision in the face of this.

Despite Cruise’s association with Mission: Impossible, he will inevitably have to leave the franchise behind at some point. Even if he doesn’t want to, Cruise will eventually get too old to leave Mission: Impossible, so now would be as good a time as any. Cruise ending his run with the franchise on a massive two-part finale would be a fantastic way to go out, allowing another character to take over in the future. Plus, Tom Cruise’s recent deal with Warner Bros. means that a lot less of his time will probably be spent at Paramount, which owns Mission: Impossible.

Can Mission: Impossible Really Replace Tom Cruise If He Does Leave?

When Tom Cruise truly does leave Mission: Impossible, the franchise will have to replace him if it wants to continue on, something that will be immensely hard to do. A pre-existing Mission: Impossible actor like Jeremy Renner or Hayley Atwell could become the franchise’s main character, but they simply aren’t grand enough to fill Tom Cruise’s shoes. The other option would be to bring a new actor in, but replacing Tom Cruise with an all-new character might be a move that some viewers aren’t fans of.

Related From villain monologues to Tom Cruise stunts, some interesting Mission Impossible scenes were cut from the final movies and never made it to theaters.

If Mission: Impossible doesn’t want to replace Tom Cruise in the franchise as-is, there are some other options. A Mission: Impossible reboot could allow a new batch of characters to come in and make names for themselves, redefining the franchise for a new generation. The franchise could also simply end after the next Mission: Impossible movie, wrapping up after it concludes the story of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is an action-adventure spy thriller from director Christopher McQuarrie. It’s the seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible series and a direct sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The title will star Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ving Rhames.