Mission: Impossible 8 Finally Answered A Burning Franchise Question, But Left A Huge Loose Thread In The Process

Warning: if you haven’t seen Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning just yet, there are massive spoilers in play here.

While I’m not totally convinced that the 2025 movie schedule is the last time we’ll see Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, I will say that Mission: Impossible 8 leaves the character in an impressive checkmate. You can read more about that through my thoughts on The Final Reckoning’s definitive ending, but in reflecting on the finality of this new blockbuster, I have to share two things I’m still thinking about.

One subject is tied to how a huge franchise question got an unexpected, but very satisfying answer. Which is something that only highlighted another lost opportunity, I see as an outstanding issue in the franchise lore. If you choose to accept, feel free to read on, but if you’re still nervous about spoilers, you can check out my Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning review to stay fresh, while learning more.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Finally Explained The Rabbit’s Foot

I’m so glad that the appearance of Mission: Impossible III’s Rabbit’s Foot in The Final Reckoning teaser wasn’t just a flashback. While director Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen included plenty of references to the IMF’s modern operational history, we finally know what that J.J. Abrams-directed macguffin truly was. In my opinion, the answer didn’t disappoint, especially after revisiting that picture through my Paramount+ subscription.

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It turns out that Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) wasn’t looking for a biological weapon to sell to the highest bidder. Rather, the Rabbit’s Foot’s packaging was a cover for its true prize - the earliest code used to create The Entity. So thanks to Ethan Hunt trying to save his now ex-wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), the world was brought to the brink of nuclear armageddon. Oh, the things we do for love.

The Entity’s Origins In Mission: Impossible III Prove Ethan Hunt’s Final Reckoning Was In Play For Some Time

What we know about Mission: Impossible’s Rabbit’s Foot has only changed in terms of the type of threat we’re dealing with. That means that the digital havoc of The Entity has existed, in one way or form, since 2006’s prototype code fell into the wrong hands. But one more line of dialogue that may have slipped past in all the fast-paced action hints at an even earlier red flag.

As espoused by exiled coding legend William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) upon the arrival of the IMF team led by Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), The Entity is something he’s been warning people about for some time. While Donloe has been in Alaska for almost 30 years, when exactly he started expressing those concerns has never been pinpointed. But that won't stop me from returning to my big Mission: Impossible theory involving The Syndicate - one last time.

Not Tying Solomon Lane Into The Final Mission: Impossible Movie Is A Loose Thread

I get it: some reports “presume” that Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is dead after being turned over to MI6 at the end of Fallout. I’m not one of those people, and even if we saw him bite the big one on screen, I turn to Christopher McQuarrie’s remarks on a potential Henry Cavill return. With Lane not taking a hook to the head from a falling helicopter, the former head of The Syndicate feels very much in play, and should have been the overall villain in The Final Reckoning.

The overall framework of the Rabbit’s Foot and its history would have been a super easy way to confirm Ethan Hunt’s fight against The Syndicate as a career-long chess game. What’s more, that suggested plotline would have strengthened another legacy character’s return into something much more powerful.

Eugene Kittridge Could Have Been The “Anti-God” To Ethan Hunt’s Heroic Presence

Even without Solomon Lane’s presence in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning and its recent sequel, The Syndicate/The Apostles’ overall goal could have been served by Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny). In his current form, the motivations he’s pursuing seem muddled at times, as he both wants to possess The Entity, but also trusts Ethan Hunt in the field.

But what if Kittridge was an O.G. Syndicate, using that post to influence the son of disavowed IMF agent Jim Phelps? Why else would the twist of Jasper Briggs (Shea Wigham) being revealed as Jim Phelps Jr. exist, other than a deep cut easter egg?

Tying into Benji’s “God/Anti-God” talk from Mission: Impossible III, these two men would have been a more fitting threat than the still mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales) - a man who’d rather die in a sick mid-air action sequence than give us his backstory.

All Roads (Should) Lead Back To Ethan Hunt's Mission: Impossible Origin Story

Speaking of backstory, we have to circle back around to our friend William Donloe. With his surprisingly beefy role in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Rolf Saxon gets to redeem one of the franchise’s walking punchlines into a living/breathing character. Clearly Ethan Hunt’s Mission: Impossible journey is something that does reach back to his first cinematic mission, thanks to Kittridge and Donloe showing up again.

More importantly, thanks to the revelation that William has been warning us about The Entity for some time now, The Syndicate play would have been even stronger. We don’t know exactly when Mission: Impossible’s secret hero started issuing said warnings, but since he’s been living in Alaska for the past 30 years, it pretty much butts up to this cinematic origin story.

I still very much enjoy Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, as the story mostly ties things up for Ethan Hunt in a way that he never needs to show up again. But with that said, I’m still kind of sore that all of the building blocks to this pretty awesome story arc were there - they just weren’t woven together in a way that would have delivered a grand espionage-fueled finale.

But feel free to either check out The Final Reckoning again, or for the first time, in order to try and prove me wrong. As the film is currently in theaters, the almost three-hour picture has plenty more excitement and twists to dig into.