Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to shake up the franchise by introducing a young Ethan Hunt?

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning had the highest budget of any film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, somewhere in the range of $290 million… but the box office numbers took a dip, the film ending up with a haul of $566 million at the worldwide box office. A lower amount than Ghost Protocol ($694 million), Rogue Nation ($688 million), and Fallout ($786 million) had earned. And they all had substantially lower budgets. With the next film, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, set to reach theatres on May 23, 2025, the folks working behind-the-scenes might have an idea that the franchise needs to be shaken up a bit. According to a RUMOR shared by The Sun, they’re going to attempt to do this by pulling a younger version of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character into the action.

The Sun’s inside source informed them, “Tom is keen to give Mission: Impossible a fresh take in the next two films and wants to explore a bit of Ethan’s past. They’re going to start looking for a young star to take on the role and they will appear a bit in (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) and then more in the ninth film. It’s very important to Tom that they get the right person. They are seeking a youngster who is completely fresh on the scene and will cause a real stir. It’s a huge role but the hunt is on to see if they can find a young Tom Cruise. The scenes will show Ethan in his early life and explore the things that happened to him before he went on to start working as a spy. It is something they’ve not done before with Mission: Impossible and so Tom thinks it could be a really interesting tangent for fans.” It’s not surprising to hear that The Final Reckoning will include flashbacks to Ethan’s younger days, as Dead Reckoning was already dropping hints about his back story, but it is surprising to hear that a young Ethan might play a bigger role in the next sequel down the line.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning tells the second half of the story that began in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, with Ethan Hunt out to destroy an AI system called The Entity, which is housed in a sunken Russian stealth submarine.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and Dead Reckoning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie remains at the helm, working from a screenplay he crafted with Erik Jendresen.

Cruise is being joined in the cast by Hayley Atwell, reprising her Dead Reckoning role of thief-turned-IMF-recruit Grace; Vanessa Kirby as arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, a.k.a. the White Widow, a character who was previously seen in both Fallout and Dead Reckoning; Ving Rhames as IMF agent Luther Stickell, who has been part of this franchise since the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996; Simon Pegg as IMF agent Benji Dunn, who joined the party back in Mission: Impossible III; Henry Czerny as CIA director Eugene Kittridge, who was introduced in Mission: Impossible (1996) and finally made his long-awaited return in Dead Reckoning; Rolf Saxon as William Donloe, a CIA analyst who got in trouble after Ethan Hunt accessed his computer way back in the first Mission: Impossible; and more Dead Reckoning reprisals: Esai Morales as the Entity-serving terrorist Gabriel; Pom Klementieff as Gabriel’s former ally Paris; Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis as US Intelligence agents Briggs and Degas; Mariela Garriga as Marie, a mysterious woman from Ethan and Gabriel’s past; Mark Gatiss and Charles Parnell as the heads of the NSA and NRO;. There are also a handful of new additions to the franchise: Holt McCallany as Secretary of Defense Bernstein; Nick Offerman as Sydney, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Katy O’Brian, Stephen Oyoung, Tramell Tillman, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, and Lucy Tulugarjuk in unspecified roles.

What do you think of the idea that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could establish a young Ethan Hunt that would have a bigger role in Mission: Impossible 9? Let us know by leaving a comment below.