Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Director Christopher McQuarrie Sheds Light on Hayley Atwell’s Character

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie shared some more details about Hayley Atwell’s mystery character in the movie. Not a lot is known about who the Agent Carter actress is playing except for the fact that “she does not belong in a MissionL Impossible movie,” according to the Empire Magazine feature. That small detail makes things all the more intriguing. She’s far from the first woman to have a larger role in the franchise. But, McQuarrie and his team really think they’ve found something distinct with this edition of the long-running series. So, there’s a special surprise waiting for fans with whatever Atwell has been tasked with doing in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

“Hayley’s character didn’t have a name for a long, long time,” McQuarrie explained to Empire. “She has her own objective, and she more or less becomes ensnared in this movie. What you have here is a character who absolutely does not belong in a Mission: Impossible movie, and she’s doing everything she can to get out of it.”

What Is Different About Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible 7?

In an interview with Light The Fuse, both Atwell and McQuarrie offered more comment on her secretive role. “There’s ambiguity…the interesting thing we’re exploring is her resistance to a situation she finds herself in,” Atwell revealed. “How she starts off, where she becomes. The journey of what she comes into and what is asked of her and potentially where she ends up.”

McQuarrie would also add that she’s a completely different character from the women Michelle Monaghan and Rebecca Ferguson brought to the screen in the franchise.

“For Hayley to exist in a franchise where other women had come and made statements, we said ‘well it can’t be like that.’ We don’t want Hayley to be a repeat of any character that’s come before,” the director said. “What’s left? What’s unique and what’s new? We wrote a scene about what we imagined the spark of that character to be, and that’s what Hayley came in and read. What we discovered there is this energy that Hayley had, specifically an energy with Tom. It’s not a vibe, it’s literally a vibration. You felt it and you were like, ‘I don’t know what to make of this person.’”

Are you excited for Mission: Impossible 7? Let us know down in the comments!