Actress Rebecca Ferguson is one of the few actors to have a recurring presence in Tom Cruise’s globe-trotting action-adventure franchise, Mission: Impossible. Ferguson most recently appeared in the franchise’s seventh installment where her character seemingly meets a tragic demise at the hands of the antagonist.
Since the seventh installment premiered, there have been questions about Ferguson’s potential return to the franchise. However, in a recent podcast, Ferguson highlighted her issue with the franchise and seemingly implied that her time in the Tom Cruise-led series was done. Here is what Rebecca Ferguson said about her future in the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Rebecca Ferguson Highlights Major Flaw With Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible Franchise
Rebecca Ferguson debuted as Ilsa Faust in the fifth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, starring opposite Tom Cruise. Ferguson later reprised her role in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout and 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. However, Ferguson will not return for the upcoming eighth installment that is currently filming.
During an appearance on The Wrap’s UnWrapped podcast, Ferguson opened up about her departure from the $4.1 billion franchise. Ferguson revealed that she found the process of making Mission: Impossible movies time-consuming, particularly because the films do not have a set script when production starts.
“They don’t really have scripts. You have to literally jump when they say jump, and that’s why it’s amazing. You’re highly trained, highly skilled. It is so intoxicatingly exciting when you’re rolling, but there’s a lot of waiting.”
Ferguson’s statement implies that while she enjoyed working on the extravagant action scenes in the movies, she was not a fan of working without a set script. At the same time, Ferguson also added that the amount of time she spent waiting to film her portions was significant and she no longer wanted to dedicate so much time to one project.
Rebecca Ferguson’s Comments Make Her Mission: Impossible Return Unlikely
During the same podcast, Ferguson revealed that she had initially signed on to feature in three films of the franchise and her contract expired with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. While there was initially an offer for her to extend her contract and appear in a fourth film, it was mutually decided that she would not continue with the role.
Ferguson expressed admiration for her character and appreciated that fans were sad by the death of Ilsa in the seventh installment. However, Ferguson felt that the character was becoming more of a team player and wasn’t headed in the direction she had envisioned for the character.
“There was a lot of characters coming in, not leaving enough space for what she had been.”
Ferguson made the above statement explaining that the addition of new characters left little room for her character to develop or have a meaningful storyline.
At the same time, Ferguson wasn’t willing to commit her time to the physically grueling nature of the production, especially because her character would not have significant screen time. As a result, Ferguson has seemingly closed the door on reprising her role in future installments and Ilsa’s death in the most recent film seems permanent.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is streaming on Paramount+.
