Mission: Impossible Director Issues Feisty Clarification About Tom Cruise's Franchise Future

Next year's release of "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" marks nearly three decades of Tom Cruise doing his thing as Ethan Hunt. The Hollywood megastar and stunt GOAT has played the role since the 1996 release of the first "Mission: Impossible" movie, and he's shown no signs of slowing up — until now. 

According to movie insiders, the upcoming two-part installment is set to be Cruise's last hurrah and will be an official "sendoff" for the Hunt character, who has been featured in six movies now. One source told Variety back in February that the seventh and eighth films — which are due out in July 2023 and June 2024 — would ultimately be a "culmination" of the entire franchise, which is something that director and frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie has neither confirmed nor denied. 

However, there's something very important that the filmmaker wants people to know about Cruise's future and overall outlook on the "Mission: Impossible" movies, which he explained and clarified in a recent interview.

According to Christopher McQuarrie, if there's one thing you should never say about Tom Cruise, it's that he's finished or will never again do something — especially when it comes to his movies. So don't believe everything you hear, the director says, about the "Dead Reckoning" rumors.

"I've been working with Tom Cruise for 15 years and I cannot tell you the number of times I've been standing next to the man, witnessed an event and then read about it in the trades the next day and none of what they describe is actually true," McQuarrie told Variety, listing examples. Interestingly, McQuarrie also made sure to point out that he doesn't believe that all inaccurate reports are simple mistakes. In fact, the "Jack Reacher" director seemed to imply that something far more nefarious is at work.

"When you read articles in the trades, just put the imaginary word in front of the headline: 'The Agenda Is...' When you read 'anonymous sources' or 'sources close to the production say,' that's somebody putting it out there for a specific reason," McQuarrie said. "That's someone wanting others to think that for a specific reason, and you can never know for sure what those reasons are. You learn to ignore it and laugh at it. In today's world, you wait 17 minutes and another news cycle will sweep it away." 

Notably, McQuarrie would appear to have already lined up another project for after "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two." In fact, the director says that the wheels have started turning on his intense, new, and secret Tom Cruise project.