That Mission: Impossible 7 Death Was Planned During Top Gun: Maverick
Among everything we expected to see in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One," one of Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) toughest allies biting the dust certainly wasn't on the list — it was for Christopher McQuarrie, though. In fact, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) being killed in action was his top priority, the result of a discussion that he and franchise star Cruise had while the latter was pulling impossible maneuvers in jets and teaching the best of the best in "Top Gun: Maverick."
Speaking on an episode of "The Empire Spoiler Special Film Podcast" (via Entertainment Weekly) about bidding farewell to Ilsa, McQuarrie revealed, "It was one of the earliest conversations. We were on the set of 'Top Gun'; we were already talking about it." So the decision was made, along with a solid basis for how it would be handled among the other important deaths in the seventh "Mission: Impossible" film. "We knew that that emotional arc was of a certain emotional tone," explained the director. "Ilsa is a wonderful character, and a character of which I am enormously proud, and Rebecca is an actor of such unmitigated power and presence."
Admittedly, though, Ilsa wasn't such a simple character to kill off. After all, she'd been with Ethan for three films and proved a crucial addition to the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) team. But the way both McQuarrie and Cruise saw it, it was always going to be this way, and any future together was quite simply impossible.
Ilsa's relationship with Ethan was what led to her tragic exit from Mission: Impossible
Like so many significant character developments in any story, finding a balance, for better or worse, is key. This is what Christopher McQuarrie took on board when mapping out Ilsa's bittersweet farewell. From his perspective, "[the] place you took that character would either make less of her — it would suddenly become frivolous — ... or she would just become a romantic interest, and it was never about creating a character who was defined by her love story with Ethan Hunt."
Looking back at Ethan and Ilsa's relationship, romance always seemed teased but never totally confirmed with this pair. After all, the final act of "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" is them saving the world and the life of his former wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), with no confirmation that he'd found someone new in Ilsa.
McQuarrie concluded that when it comes to IMF's top employee and his occasional clandestine colleague, "their relationship transcends a traditional loving story ... They're doomed to be together and yet doomed never to be together ... It felt like that story was looking for its resolution, and so we said, 'This has got to happen.'" Monumental decisions like this didn't seem to take away from the film for audiences, thankfully — satisfied fans didn't hold back on Twitter following its release.