Mission: Impossible 8 may secretly be setting up a new lead after Tom Cruise (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning might look like the grand finale for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, but it’s quietly doing something bigger, it’s teeing up a new lead. And the wildcard in question is Pom Klementieff’s Paris.
Paris, the ruthless-yet-enigmatic assassin introduced in Dead Reckoning, was initially on the side of chaos. Working for Gabriel and the AI-driven Entity, she rips through screen time with car chases and vicious fight scenes, none more memorable than that brutal hallway brawl. But something shifts. The Entity predicts her betrayal. Gabriel stabs her but he survives. Then saves Ethan and Grace, that’s not a background character move. That’s the main character’s behavior.
She ends the movie clinging to life, but the pulse is there. Add to that her prominent presence in the marketing for The Final Reckoning, and it’s clear: this isn’t a one-and-done villain. Paris is being positioned for a comeback, and possibly more. Klementieff has the screen presence, and Paris has the intrigue. The franchise has an opening.
Why Paris, Not Brandt Or Grace, Feels Like The Real Future Of Mission: Impossible?
The franchise has tried to hint at successors before. Renner’s Brandt was the obvious pick once, but his real-life accident, plus a shift in priorities, makes his return unlikely. Benji and Luther were always reliable, never leading men. Grace (Hayley Atwell) is clever and relatable but hasn’t shown the edge needed to take the reins. Ilsa Faust had potential, but Dead Reckoning cut that short.
Paris, meanwhile, doesn’t follow the playbook. She’s not smooth, she’s not polished, and she’s definitely not Ethan Hunt 2.0. And that’s exactly why she works. She brings a fresh kind of chaos, someone who could easily go rogue, stay unpredictable, and still anchor the story.
Mission: Impossible’s Future Doesn’t Need An Heir — It Needs A Survivor Like Paris
Then there’s the other layer. The oath. “We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close, and those we never get to meet.” Repeated in Dead Reckoning and again in Final Reckoning, it sounds like more than poetic spy talk. It might be pointing to a child Ethan never met possibly from his marriage to Julia. If true, that could be a long play. A future lead, a legacy character, stepping in years later.
But right now, Paris feels like the immediate answer, not a reboot or legacy. Just a rogue agent finding purpose and in a franchise that thrives on reinvention, that’s exactly what it needs.
If Final Reckoning really is Tom Cruise’s last bow, Mission: Impossible’s future might not come from the clean-cut heir or some new recruit, it might come from the bruised, unpredictable assassin who chose to fight back. Paris isn’t just a survivor. She might be the next evolution.
