Editor’s note: Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Christopher McQuarrie (McQ) actually went there: Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) is dead! Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hit theaters and brought in a worldwide total of $235 million over its five-day opening weekend. And while the film is scoring well with both critics and audiences, McQ arguably made a huge mistake killing off an integral Mission: Impossible character like Faust.
McQuarrie said in an interview with USA Today:
[It was] a really tough decision. But it was one we knew we had to make for the movie to have stakes and for the movie to remain ‘Mission.’ 'Mission' is primarily Ethan's journey (and) there is this continuum that the people closest to him, he tends to lose them. It was a really tricky conversation for us to have, and we knew that there would be some reactions to that, but we also knew this is the reality of the world that's been created over seven movies.
Faust first appeared in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and then returned to help Ethan Hunt take on both August Walker aka John Lark (Henry Cavill) and Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
The Death of Ilsa Faust
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) knows Gabriel (Esai Morales) plans to kill either Grace (Hayley Atwell) or Faust (Ferguson), but he’s deliberately preoccupied and double-teamed to delay him in trying to save them. What ensues is an epic battle with Paris (Pom Klementieff), but Ethan can’t get to the bridge in time to help his friends.
With Grace lying limp and unconscious on the stairs, Faust engages Gabriel with her sword. Unfortunately, the villain gets the upper hand and drives a knife right into Ilsa’s heart. By the time Ethan reaches the bridge, Gabriel has made his escape, and Grace regains consciousness. However, Ilsa is already dead, and Ethan can’t even tell her goodbye.
Ferguson said in an interview with CBS Mornings:
We never, Tom and I and McQ, we never talk about them [Ethan and Ilsa] as an item. But I guess when we watch the film, they’re so similar they fight the same cause and yet you have Ilsa constantly saying, ‘But why? Why are we doing this? We could run away.’ There’s so much connection between them.
With Ilsa’s demise dies any hope of further exploring the romantic nature of her relationship with Ethan. However, it is Mission: Impossible after all. Fans will certainly speculate whether Ilsa is really dead or not. With all of the IMF’s incredibly lifelike latex masks, someone else could have taken on the guise of Faust when she confronted Gabriel. If that’s the case, who actually died on the bridge? And how was Ilsa persuaded to go along with the charade and risk someone else’s life?
Look for answers when Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two hits theaters in June 2024.