How Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Sets Up Part 2

The seventh entry in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, "Dead Reckoning Part One" is filled to the brim with jaw-dropping stunts, international espionage, and plot twists that will leave fans reeling with joy. In "Dead Reckoning Part One," Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) goes on a globe-trotting adventure to retrieve a key that holds the secrets to The Entity, a nefarious, sentient artificial intelligence that all the world's countries are vying to take control of. On his mission, Hunt comes across Grace (Hayley Atwell), a skillful thief, and the mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales), who the IMF agent shares a delicate history with.

"Dead Reckoning Part One" stands out as one of the franchise's most action-packed and compelling flicks. Looper critic Dominic Griffin gave the film a 9/10 praising the action epic's stunts and new cast members, particularly highlighting Atwell and Morales' performances. The film has also received a whopping amount of kudos from the general audience, who awarded it an A CinemaScore during its opening weekend. While "Mission: Impossible" does reach new heights with "Dead Reckoning Part One," it also enters uncharted territory, as this is the first film in the franchise to be split up.

While speaking with Collider, director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that the story he wanted to tell with "Dead Reckoning" demanded two films. "I knew I wanted to expand the cast, and I knew I wanted to give each one of those characters more to do, so I knew the movie was going to be bigger and longer than 'Fallout,'" the director said. Luckily for audiences, "Dead Reckoning Part One" does have a satisfactory conclusion, unlike most films that are split up. The film ends by teasing several narrative threads which remain unsolved, particularly those involving Grace, Gabriel, and Pom Klementieff's Paris.

An increasingly annoying trend in Hollywood has seen films like "Fast X" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" ending on cliffhangers, teasing their respective sequels. "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" subverts that by giving audiences a conclusive ending, while also giving a clear picture as to what's next for our beloved roster of characters. While speaking with Variety, director Christopher McQuarrie opened up about how adamant Tom Cruise was to not end "Dead Reckoning Part One" on a cliffhanger. "It kept Tom awake at night throughout production," McQuarrie explained. "He would come in all the time and say, 'This can't be a cliffhanger, it's got to be satisfying.' The audience has to feel a sense of completion."

And there is a true sense of completion, but also a promise for more. Broadly speaking, "Dead Reckoning Part Two" will focus on Ethan (Cruise) racing to find the sunken Sevastopol submarine. Gabriel (Morales), who no longer holds the key to The Entity, will also be in hot pursuit of both the MacGuffin and the submarine it unlocks. Ethan ends the film only in the company of Benji (Simon Pegg) as Luther (Ving Rhames) leaves before the film's final setpiece, off to an undisclosed location to learn more about the entity. With Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) now dead, it's solely up to Ethan and Benji go up against Gabriel and The Entity. While there has been debate about Ilsa's death being faked, it remains to be seen if the British agent will return. Luckily, the IMF agents might not be alone, as some of the new characters in "Dead Reckoning Part One" will make a significant impact on their journey to the Sevastopol.

The film explicitly ends with Grace (Atwell) crossing paths with Eugune Kittridge (Henry Czerny), where the thief asks to join the IMF and Kittridge agrees. Like most of the film's ensemble cast, Atwell is set to return for "Dead Reckoning Part Two." While it remains to be seen if "Dead Reckoning Part Two" shows her struggling to be an agent, it's expected that Grace will join Ethan on his mission against The Entity. "Part One" expertly sets up Grace's reluctance when it comes to being selfless, so audiences can look forward to Atwell's character growing in the "Dead Reckoning" sequel, both as a spy and character.

Grace isn't the only character who is choosing to do good. Paris (Klementieff) saves Grace and Ethan in the film's final act, choosing to no longer align with Gabriel (Morales) and the Entity. The film wraps up with Paris (seemingly) surviving her wounds, suggesting that the character will return for "Dead Reckoning Part Two." If that is the case, audiences should look forward to a showdown between her and Gabriel, who attacked her in "Dead Reckoning Part One" because he believed she would turn on him in favor of Ethan.

As for Gabriel, "Dead Reckoning Part Two" should peel back the curtain on the mysterious character and his intentions. The face-off in "Dead Reckoning Part Two" will be extremely personal for Ethan and Gabriel. The first film features flashbacks of Gabriel gunning down Marie (Mariela Garriga), a woman who Ethan has a connection with. Seeing as the film doesn't divulge much beyond that, it's expected that "Dead Reckoning Part Two" will delve deep into Marie, and her connection with Ethan and Gabriel, which in turn should explain why the two men despise each other so much.

Concrete plot details on "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two" are slim apart from what its predecessor sets up. With a majority of the cast set to return, alongside newcomers like "The Last of Us" standout Nick Offerman and "Ted Lasso" star Hannah Waddingham, "Part Two" is set to be the biggest "Mission" yet. While it remains to be seen how the plot unravels, the cast and crew behind "Dead Reckoning" have dropped several hints regarding what audiences can expect with the finale. In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Hayley Atwell confirmed that "Part Two" features sequences that were filmed in the Arctic. 

These scenes will most likely involve the Sevastopol in some capacity. Atwell was mostly secretive, though she did tease that "nothing has ever been filmed in the Arctic for a movie of this scale" in her chat with THR, adding, "At times, in minus 55 with a wind chill, having to get action dialogue in that takes a tremendous amount of organization and focus." If these Arctic scenes are related to the Savastapol, it means that Grace will be there alongside the rest of the IMF team. Note that promotional material from "Part One" shows an individual underwater, submerged under ice. Is this from the sequence in the Arctic?

During Cinema Con 2021, Paramount Pictures debuted a video of Tom Cruise standing atop a plane in South Africa, with the actor explicitly saying that he was filming "Dead Reckoning." Seeing as the stunt wasn't in "Part One," there's a strong chance that Ethan Hunt will be seen taking to the skies in "Part Two." There's also another promotional video of Cruise skydiving in South Africa, implying that two major setpieces take place in the country.