Tom Cruise had “anxiety” over ending Mission: Impossible 7 on cliffhanger

The director of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1 revealed that Tom Cruise had anxiety about ending the film on a cliffhanger.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1 is the highly anticipated end to Tom Cruise’s run as Ethan Hunt, a super spy who is known for going rogue to complete his highly dangerous missions.

Fans have been waiting for this franchise’s final since 2018 and now, five years later, they get to see Cruise ride into danger one more time to save all of humanity.

However, as Dead Reckoning is the first part to a two part final — the second part is set to release in 2024 — fans expected that the film would end on a cliffhanger, but Cruise wasn’t going let them down by not giving them a satisfying ending for a full year.

Cruise couldn’t sleep over Mission: Impossible 7 cliffhanger

The best thing about Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1 is that it feels like a complete film. After a compelling, and disastrous, climax, all of the characters are left on pretty solid ground which leaves the audience satisfied, but leaves room for the chaos that will happen in Part 2.

During an interview with Total Film, director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that Cruise, who served as a producer on the film, was the driving force behind not leaving the film on a major cliffhanger.

“Where we ended the movie was always where we were going to end it. How we ended the movie was a big, big mystery for us,” he said. “It kept Tom awake at night throughout production. He would come in all the time and say, ‘This can’t be a cliffhanger, it’s got to be satisfying.’ The audience has to feel a sense of completion.

“Tom kept looking at that scene and he had all this anxiety about whether or not it would be a satisfying conclusion or whether it would feel open-ended. We constantly revisited it, constantly refined it.”

Quarrie added that, if the crew ended the movie on a cliffhanger, it “feels a little bit like [they’re] expecting you to come back” and they “didn’t want that feeling” because they’re “[daring] you not to come back.” He explained that he wanted fans to leave the theaters thinking, “Oh, I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is now playing in theaters. Check out our other coverage below:

• Mission: Impossible 7 review
• The Entity explained
• Who dies in Dead Reckoning Part 1?
• Dead Reckoning Part 1 cast & characters
• Every movie ranked by impossibility of Tom Cruise’s stunts
• How to watch the Mission: Impossible movies in order
• Does Dead Reckoning Part 1 have a post-credits scene?
• How long is the M:I7 runtime?
• Dead Reckoning Part 2: Everything we know
• Where is Jeremy Renner?
• Who is Gabriel?
• Is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 streaming?