Tom Cruise Wants To Pull A Harrison Ford And Make Mission: Impossible Movies Until He's 80

It is happening again, as the nameless Giant once warned Dale Cooper on "Twin Peaks." Yes, it seems "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" (which Chris Evangelista reviewed for /Film) and its forthcoming sequel might not be the end of the road for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt as previously assumed. In fact, Cruise, like the ever-resourceful Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent he plays in the franchise, hopes to continue defying the odds for years ... nay, decades to come.

This recurring cycle of reports alleging Cruise is about to step away from "Mission: Impossible" only for the actor to pump the brakes on any such foregone conclusions began in 2011, back when "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" very nearly retired the Ethan Hunt character for real. It was heavily rumored that Jeremy Renner (who plays IMF analyst William Brandt) would've become the new torch-carrier had that happened, but as the "Bourne" films and app developer Escapex could tell you, you should never go all in on Jeremy Renner. Luckily, Paramount didn't, and the success of "Ghost Protocol" — the highest-grossing "Mission: Impossible" film at the time of its release — led to writer/director Christopher McQuarrie taking over the series starting in 2015. In doing so, he also ushered in a new chapter for Cruise and his IMF alter ego that's yet to reach its conclusion.

Although it's been speculated (presumed even) that "Dead Reckoning Part Two" will serve as Ethan Hunt's final bow, that might not be the case, at least if Cruise has any say in the matter. Indeed, the actor, who only just turned 61 years young on July 3, 2023, has been inspired by octagenarian Harrison Ford donning his fedora and leather jacket to star in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," and he plans to spend the next two decades playing catch-up.

During his interview with The Sydney Morning Herald at the Australian premiere of "Dead Reckoning Part One" (via Variety), Tom Cruise made it clear he's not going to let a little thing like his mortality stop him from making his own action films when he's Harrison Ford's age. "Harrison Ford is a legend; I hope to be still going. I've got 20 years to catch up with him," said Cruise. "I hope to keep making 'Mission: Impossible' films until I'm his age."

At this stage, trying to accurately predict when Cruise will finally quit the "Mission: Impossible" franchise feels about as fleeting a task as guessing when the final "Avatar" sequel will arrive or believing Liam Neeson when he claims he's done making action-thrillers. On that note, it's not inconceivable that Cruise could eventually transition into the type of action career Neeson's had post-"Taken," i.e. where his films actually factor his age into the equation (lest we end up with another amusingly bizarre situation like Russell Crowe calling a then almost 55-year-old Cruise a "younger man" in 2017's "The Mummy"). After all, that's what Ford has done in his own films for the last 20 years and it's worked out pretty well for him.

Then again, as we only just saw with "Dial of Destiny," it's the box office that will ultimately decide when Ethan Hunt rides off into the sunset (or, as seems more befitting of Ethan, hang-glides off a cliff before firing himself out of a cannon into the sun). So it's best that we table this discussion until we know for certain whether or not "Dead Reckoning Part One" has defied the 2023 trend of would-be summer blockbusters with excessively huge budgets under-performing in theaters.

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