Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie explains why the teased romance between Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust can never be. After six previous entries, Cruise's superspy is set to return for a final two installments, which will see him facing off against a new enemy with the help of his faithful team of operatives. Ferguson's Ilsa was first introduced in 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and has since become an indispensable ally, with 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout further teasing that there is some romantic tension between her and Ethan.
Following the release of the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One trailer, McQuarrie discusses the romantic future of Ethan and Ilsa in a new interview with Empire. While there's certainly romantic chemistry between the two characters, the director explains that having a relationship in their line of work really just isn't possible. Check out McQuarrie's full comment below:
“What we’ve really baked into the narrative is that the closer someone gets to him, the more dangerous it is. I was never really interested in creating a typical love interest for Ethan. Once that relationship consummates, that relationship is over.
“The simple fact of the matter is you’re not making Mr & Mrs Smith, you’re making Mission: Impossible, and so the challenge comes in creating a relationship that is always evolving and never quite reaching what is a somewhat mundane resolution. I’m much more interested in seeing characters who could be – and maybe even would be – but can’t because of the very nature of what they do. So, if I could distill it… it’s complicated!”
Christopher McQuarrie Is Right About Ethan Hunt's Romantic Life
The fact of the matter is the Mission: Impossible franchise is successful because of its jaw-dropping action. That's not to say that there can't be meaningful character beats in between the set pieces in which Cruise risks his life to entertain audiences, but romance and the complexities of human emotion just aren't the franchise's bread and butter. Hunt himself is also a fairly straightforward character, propelled solely by his desire to protect the world from those wishing to do it harm.
Hunt's biggest "flaw," arguably, and something that previous films have explored through his failed marriage with Michelle Monaghan's Julia, is that his relationships don't work because he can't switch off the IMF part of his brain. If the world is in danger, he has no choice but to leap into action to save it. It's for that reason that a will-they, won't-they dynamic between Ethan and Ilsa ends up being far more entertaining than Cruise's superspy entering into a relationship that's doomed from the start.
Hunt knows, at this point, that a regular romance is off the table for him and Ilsa's presence in his life is a constant reminder of the life that he can never have. It's also part of what separates the Mission: Impossible franchise from James Bond, for example. It remains to be seen how the dynamic between Ethan and Ilsa will play out in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and its follow-up, but it sounds like audiences shouldn't expect the two spies to have a happy ever after together.
Source: Empire
