Mission: Impossible Star Breaks Silence on Their Dead Reckoning Death

After appearing in three Mission: Impossible movies, fans said goodbye to Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, with the actor herself revealing that she had started to lose interest in seeing Ilsa just become another teammate supporting Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. In her first two appearances, Ilsa had a slightly more antagonistic relationship with Ethan, though they ended up coming together when their interests aligned. Ferguson, though, preferred Ilsa’s independence so when the time came to renew her commitments to the franchise, she opted not to return. She didn’t, however, rule out ever returning to the character at some point in the future.

“Do you remember when we talked about those three picture deals in Hollywood? Well, sometimes those end and actors have the possibility of saying yes or no,” Ferguson shared with Entertainment Tonight. “So we were at that point and Mission is such a huge dedication, and I’ve done it, and it’s fantastic, and it’s amazing and [Christopher McQuarrie] and [Tom Cruise] wrote this incredible character. It’s just that much you can do with a character, I find. I’m entitled to my own opinion in this. I want her to go rogue. I’m interested in the dark side. I don’t want a team member. It’s not interesting to me and I felt like that’s where we were heading, and it also takes a lot of time to make Mission.” 

Joining the Mission: Impossible franchise helped boost Ferguson’s star power, which saw her join the Dune franchise and also develop the Apple TV+ series Silo. 

“It is blood, sweat, and tears doing those films and by now, I’ve done a TV show and two movies. They’re still on Mission,” Ferguson admitted. “But that’s the thing: you never know, right?”

Interestingly, Ferguson previously expressed that she had initially been intrigued by the idea of developing a standalone adventure focusing on Ilsa, though the more Mission: Impossible movies she starred in, the more she thought her dynamic with supporting characters was necessary for the figure.

“When I started Mission, I fell in love with Ilsa so much. I thought, ‘Yeah, f-ck yeah she’d have a spinoff,’” Ferguson confirmed with Ilsa’s future to ComicBook.com back in 2023. “And then gradually, I don’t know if I became humble or if I realized it has nothing to do with Ilsa, it actually is a team thing, it is Ilsa and Ethan and [Simon Pegg’s] Benji and — I was gonna say Ving [Rhames] — all of the characters together that makes it so good.” 

She did note that, were a spin-off project to be developed by the minds behind Mission: Impossible, it could still be effective, expressing, “The idea of Ilsa alone — it would always work, you would need [director] Chris McQuarrie and you would need Tom to produce it. Maybe Tom’s Ethan can dip in and out, he can be a guest star in my show. My point is, it’s not needed, I think. I think we’re good as it stands.”

Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

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