WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
SinceMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoningwas meant to be the climactic finale of Ethan Hunt’s cinematic adventures, the filmmakers sought to make it more successful than what came before it. Specifically, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie aimed torectify the perceived mistakes made inMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, which had led to the film’s box office disappointment. This goal led to significant changes to the story of2025’sThe Final Reckoning.
For one thing, McQuarrie chose to makeThe Final Reckoninga standalone movie rather than the second part ofDead Reckoning. Thus, the film went through multiple iterations, with scenes being added and significant storylines fromDead Reckoningleft behind. While all these changes were meant to fix the previous movie’s shortcomings and satisfy more audiences, they arguably leftThe Final Reckoning’s storyfeeling less satisfying than it could have been.
Even though theMission: Impossiblemoviesare a mega-popular franchise led by Tom Cruise, one of the biggest actors in the world,Dead Reckoningdidn’t perform as well as some had hoped when it was released in 2023. Despite receiving rave reviews and grossing a reported $571.1 million in theaters, the movie was still considered a box office disappointment,as the production reportedly cost a whopping $291 million(viaBox Office Mojo).
In an interview withHappy Sad Confused, McQuarrie said it was easy to blameDead Reckoning’s underwhelming performance on the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that urged people to watch Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig’s new movies,OppenheimerandBarbie,respectively, instead. However,he instead chose to listen to the public’s feedback on the filmand improve on whereDead Reckoningsupposedly failed, hoping not to risk failing at the box office a second time with his planned sequel.
The Final Reckoning Changed Drastically To Try & Help Audiences
Image via Paramount Pictures
McQuarrie revealed thatThe Final Reckoningwas originally intended to have a non-linear narrative, presenting crucial scenes earlier in the film. This original plan even had the opening scene be Ethan’s meeting with the U.S. President at Mount Weather, with McQuarrie arguing that’s when the protagonist’s journey really “kicks off.” However, the director realized that the story didn’t work that way.
McQuarrie then followed Cruise’s suggestion and presented the film in chronological order, but that didn’t work either because the first scenes discussed the Entity without revealing what it was. As a result,McQuarrie added a cold opening to the film, featuring the President’s message to Ethan to reintroduce the Entity and make the story clearer for audiences. The director also added the scene where Ethan talks directly to the Entity two days before he “locked [the] picture” to lay out the story even more and help viewers understand it better.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Cut Several Major Storylines To Streamline The Narrative
The Final Reckoning Abandoned Huge Subplots Involving Ethan, Gabriel, And Marie
To makeThe Final Reckoning’s story tighter and more enjoyable afterDead Reckoning, McQuarrie tried to make it shorter than originally planned. ThoughThe Final Reckoningended up with a longer runtime than its predecessor,the film still left some intended scenes on the cutting room floor. While the changes made toThe Final Reckoning’s story may have smoothed things over with Ethan’s conflict with the Entity, it also steered clear of other major subplots that began inDead Reckoning.
For instance,the sequel all but abandoned the background story with Ethan and the villain Gabriel(Esai Morales), which showed the latter killing Marie (Mariela Garriga) and framing Ethan for the murder in the past. Since Gabriel’s killing of Marie was the reason Ethan ended up becoming an IMF agent, his role in working for the Entity in a quest to control the world made Ethan’s conflict with him especially personal.
Likewise,The Final Reckoningdidn’t expand on Marie’s identity, what kind of relationship she had with Ethan, and why Gabriel even killed her.McQuarrie did film a scene exploring more of Ethan’s past with Marie and Gabriel, but he ultimately chose to exclude it from the final film, arguing that their backstory was always going to be left with some ambiguity, no matter how he presented it.
The Final Reckoning Was Meant To Work As A Standalone Mission: Impossible Movie, Not A Part 2
The Final Reckoning Became A Different Story During Production
Overall, the drastic changes made toThe Final Reckoning’s story were meant to make it function as its own movie. While the film continued Ethan’s quest to stop The Entity,the narrative was meant to feel more like a singular story rather than the second part of another. Thus, the film went from being calledDead Reckoning - Part 2toThe Final Reckoning.
While this move may seem questionable, McQuarrie claimed that,hadThe Final Reckoningbeen releasedthe summer followingDead Reckoning’s premiere, it would have remained the second part of the initial installment. In the end, McQuarrie argued that the extended amount of time between the two movies,caused by the strikes in Hollywood, allowed him and his team to “let Dead Reckoning go” and turnThe Final Reckoninginto a standalone film.
Did Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’s Changes Help Or Hurt The Movie?
While The Final Reckoning Was Exciting, It Could’ve Been More Satisfying
The way thatThe Final Reckoningwas presented in theaters,Ethan and his IMF pals went out on a thrilling and emotional last adventureas they raced to stop the Entity from wiping out humanity in a nuclear apocalypse. Unfortunately, however, the film still failed to reach the heights it could have soared to because it left behind the subplots set up in the previous movie.
Specifically, by failing to expand upon Ethan and Gabriel’s relationship after it was teased inDead Reckoning, the sequel made the latter character far less compelling than he should have been.Gabriel ended up feeling more like an obstacle Ethan had to overcomerather than a fully developed character.
On a similar note, by not elaborating on Marie’s character and her connection to Ethan and Gabriel, both her and Gabriel’s characters were left appearing one-dimensional. This was especially jarring given their significant roles in Ethan’s origin story. In leaving Ethan’s history with both of these crucial characters so ambiguous,the film risked leaving audiences wanting to learn more, unsatisfied with this movie as Ethan’s final mission.
McQuarrie was wise to acknowledge the feedback from his audience afterDead Reckoning’s commercial disappointment. Nevertheless, the director and his team went too far trying to step away from the film’s alleged flaws when developingMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. By abandoning the subplots involving Marie and Gabriel,the filmmakers deprivedThe Final Reckoningof some of the emotion and closureit should have had as Ethan’s last journey on the big screen.
