Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Will Unravel Parts Of Ethan Hunt's Past

With the release of the latest and final trailer for "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One," speculation about the plot has already started to run a little rampant based on a few cryptic lines of dialogue and the introduction of a new character tied to Ethan Hunt's past. Since the original Brian De Palma directed "Mission Impossible" exploded into theaters in the summer of 1996, each subsequent entry has been distilled down to whatever stunt set piece Tom Cruise is attempting, rather than the intricate machinations and global intrigue that typically comes along with the spy genre. In short, audiences don't remember the plot, they remember Cruise hanging off the side of a building.

De Palma's first film is in line with a more classic spy thriller, filled with plenty of mystery and surprising double crosses that amount to a satisfying cinematic sleight of hand trick. John Woo's "M:I-2" is purely surface level featuring Cruise modeling on a motorbike in slow motion for two hours. It was J.J. Abrams' "M:i:III" that set out to answer the question of what Ethan Hunt does when he's not out saving the world.

In "Dead Reckoning Part One," there are more questions popping up about who Ethan was before joining the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). For starters, the return of IMF boss Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) raises eyebrows, especially when he tells Ethan in the trailer that "our lives are the sum of our choices, and we cannot escape the past." But it's a new character played by Esai Morales that's peaking our interest and hinting at some potential dark secrets that may emerge from out of the shadows.

It's interesting to note that, originally, actor Nicholas Hoult ("Mad Max: Fury Road," "The Great") was set to play the main villain opposite Tom Cruise until the pandemic struck and Hoult was forced to drop out altogether. Hoult is significantly younger than Cruise, making it unlikely that their characters would have had any kind of history together.

In an inspired bit of casting, director Christopher McQuarrie courted Esai Morales to come aboard, causing significant changes to the story. The fact that Morales is much closer to Cruise in age immediately makes their relationship more compelling and makes it clear that Morales is playing a completely revamped version of Hoult's original character. McQuarrie is remaining uncharacteristically tight-lipped about any plot details, but provided some information about how the addition of Morales created some more lanes of opportunity. He told Empire:

"Casting Esai allowed us to explore things with those characters and the notion of Ethan's past. Ethan has a past that predates the IMF, and that allowed us to explore that with a character that knew Ethan before Ethan was Ethan. That's part of who Gabriel is."

With that, we now know the name of Morales' character, although that doesn't necessarily offer up any clues. The name could be a biblical reference to the archangel Gabriel, or it may not have any direct symbolism whatsoever. McQuarrie seems to relish in people reading a little too much into the finer points, however:

"People who want to do their homework can derive from that whatever they please."

As soon as Michelle Monaghan was introduced as Ethan's wife in "Mission: Impossible III," the world's greatest spy suddenly became a little more human. There was a reason to go out and do the impossible because now there was someone to protect. That motivation has carried over into "Ghost Protocol" and "Fallout," where Monaghan appears in cameos to show what Ethan has had to sacrifice in order to keep saving the world over and over again.

If "Dead Reckoning Part One" is really the set up for the final "Mission Impossible" movie, it could be time for a little more closure and a return to some of the mystery that made Brian De Palma's original so captivating. The main reason people turn up for these films will always be for the action first and foremost, but the incredible, jaw-dropping stunt work is ultimately going to ring hollow if what's happening isn't personal for Ethan Hunt.

When Christopher McQuarrie talks about who Ethan was before he joined the IMF, what does that mean exactly? Did he have another identity before all of this? Does Gabriel know about something dark in Ethan's past? Is the rest of the team in jeopardy because of something Ethan did years ago and now his enemies are out for revenge? If "Dead Reckoning Part One" can put some of those chess pieces on the board and answer some of those questions, it could elevate these final two films to be something more than just a platform for Cruise to maintain his rep as the world's most famous adrenaline junkie.

"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" opens in theaters on July 12, 2023.