‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' Had A Post-Credits Scene That Wasn't Filmed, Director Says

Forbes

2 days ago

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning."
Christopher McQuarrie said Tom Cruise's new Mission: Impossible movie at one point had a post-credits scene that the duo decided to cut it before it was filmed. What happened to it?
McQuarrie, of course, has been the sole director of the last four Mission: Impossible movies, which began with 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Brian DePalma directed the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996, followed by John Woo for M:I 2 in 2000, J.J. Abrams for M:I 3 in 2006 and Brad Bird for M:I – Ghost Protocol in 2011.
After taking over the series with M:I – Rogue Nation, McQuarrie directed M:I – Fallout in 2018 and M:I – Dead Reckoning in 2023 before the latest – and possibly final — Mission: Impossible chapter with The Final Reckoning.
While Cruise and McQuarrie have hinted at but never officially confirmed that Misson: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is indeed the last film, a post-credits credits scene would have certainly given more clarity to the possibility of another chapter.
After all, post-credits scenes — as Disney Marvel Cinematic Universe has taught us — generally serve as springboards for sequels or sometimes wrap up loose scenes from earlier action in any given movie.
In a recent interview with USA Today, McQuarrie revealed that Mission: Impossible at one point had a post-credits scene, but it only existed on paper.
Referring to the post-credits scene as a 'coda'— a term that is generally associated with music as the concluding movement of a composition — the director told the publication that he brought up the idea of scrapping it after showing Cruise what would become the final 10 minutes of the movie.
'I came to Tom and I said, Look, normally I would want you to see the whole movie before I showed this to you, but we're about to shoot this coda in a couple of days and just look at this bit,' ' McQuarrie told USA Today. 'He said, 'You know what, you can cancel Saturday's work because this is the end of the movie. This is it.''
When asked by the publication what the scene entailed, McQuarrie gave an answer that is sure to stir up speculation about another Mission: Impossible movie.
'I'm not going to say because it could end up in another movie,' he told USA Today.
Note: The next section includes a spoiler from 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.'
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning's last big action sequence takes place entirely in the air, as Tom Cruise's Impossible Mission Force Agent Ethan Hunt dangerously navigates his position from one bi-plane to another, which is piloted by the malevolent Gabriel (Esai Morales).
Ethan needs to put himself in peril to reach Gabriel, who possesses the final piece of the puzzle to stop The Entity — a self-aware artificial intelligence program — from taking over America's nuclear arsenal and starting World War III.
The scene concludes with Ethan in a free fall where only a backup parachute can save him from plummeting straight to the earth. McQuarrie told USA Today that Cruise, who had a camera attached to him to help capture the fall, did the stunt 19 times.
As it turns out, Cruise's final stunt that viewers get to experience in The Final Reckoning was one that McQuarrie almost made him sick.
'That was gnarly. I would say without question, that was the most nervous I ever was,' McQuarrie told USA Today. 'Every other stunt you're seeing Tom do in this movie, I'm either in front of him or I'm behind him with the camera.
'With that particular stunt, I'm stuck on the ground. Just watching things unfold, there's no way to intervene and you're just watching it happen and you're a little bit helpless in that regard,' the director added.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is playing in theaters worldwide.