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Warning: spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning are in play.
The mission may be out in the open on the 2025 movie schedule, but as we look back on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, there’s till plenty to learn. Just as co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie revealed thoughts of killing off Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, the creative talent behind the latter half of this franchise’s run has revealed a suggestion that he actually turned down. And that note came from none other than Academy Award winner/fan of all things weird, Guillermo del Toro.
Guillermo del Toro’s Wild Note For Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Is Pretty Out There
I’m all for going to extremes with your big franchise finale, provided it makes sense. And that’s the key condition that I think prevented Mr. del Toro’s big note for the prelude to Mission: Impossible 8’s definitive ending from happening. As revealed by Christopher McQuarrie to the Empire Spoiler Special Podcast, the director of Netflix’s upcoming Frankenstein adaptation suggested this wild change:
At the end of the movie I want to hear the Entity scream. I want to feel the Entity know it’s been beaten.
Ok, before we go any further, I truly do appreciate this note. Of course Guillermo del Toro would want The Entity to have somewhat of a soul. So I can definitely see the boldness of personifying The Entity. I understand it even more based on some whispers I’d heard about how that concept was executed in earlier cuts of the film. So if that cut of the movie was what inspired Guillermo del Toro’s desire for a screaming Entity, this doesn’t feel that wild at all.
However, that choice would have been at odds with the Mission: Impossible finale we got. Which is a huge reason why I think Christopher McQuarrie’s eventual choice had to win out. So if you’re waiting for The Final Reckoning to hit your Paramount+ subscription, we’re about to get into the specifics, and you may want to avert your eyes.
Christopher McQuarrie’s Rejection Of This Mission: Impossible Note Totally Fits
At the end of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, a lot of plates are spinning. We’re seriously wondering if both Ethan Hunt and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) are going to die, and with Grace (Hayley Atwell) standing between The Entity and victory, a blink of an eye is super important. Having said all of that, here’s why the Edge of Tomorrow co-writer nixed giving The Entity that very voice:
It completely thwarted the emotion of the movie. For everything you think you could suggest that is a fix to something in this movie, you find it undercuts something in the movie that works.
The fact that Guillermo del Toro was even included in Christopher McQuarrie’s process with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning warms my heart. You wouldn’t consider the director of The Shape of Water as a natural fit for this sort of movie; but I’m sure Mr. McQ recognized del Toro’s Oscar-winning eye for story and scale.
Either that, or there’s a secret plan to resurrect At the Mountains of Madness, with Tom Cruise still on board to star, and McQuarrie just happened to snag del Toro into a screening at the last minute. While I go talk myself down from that dream scenario, you can see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, at a theater near you.