This article contains .

For now it looks like Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning really could be the end of the long-running spy series. While there’s plenty of talk about Tom Cruise hanging up his badge as the Impossible Missions Force’s Ethan Hunt or possibly handing over the baton to one of the many other unwilling recruits, there’s plenty of evidence that we’re not done yet. The critic scores and box office point to an appetite for Mission: Impossible 9, and now a popular online theory is taking off that a fan-favorite could soon be back in action.

After Brian De Palma’s original Mission: Impossible wasted no time in thinning the herd and killing off Ethan’s original team, the subsequent entries have included shocking deaths for everyone from Keri Russell’s Lindsey Farris to Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley. Still, it’s the demise of Rebecca Ferguson’s Isla Faust in 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning that sticks out more than most. Although Ilsa was seemingly killed by Esai Morales’ villainous Gabriel during a tense Venice action scene, the fact that her death seemed so sudden and was glossed over so quickly led many to believe she’d be back for The Final Reckoning. That’s sadly not the case, but what about in the franchise’s future?

Previous outings have shown that Ethan’s dangerous career path affects his ability to hold down a relationship (Michelle Monaghan’s Julia in Mission: Impossible III). Additionally, the franchise is no stranger to bringing characters back from the dead (Jon Voight’s Jim Phelps in Mission: Impossible springs to mind). When both features are coupled with Ilsa’s somewhat underwhelming death, it’s no surprise that fans are clinging onto the idea she’ll return in the inevitable next movie. And during The Final Reckoning’s final scene, where Ethan splits from his team in London, eagle-eyed fans spotted him veering close to an unnamed woman who looks a lot like Ferguson’s dearly departed assassin. Some suggested it was Hayley Atwell’s Grace, but with her having already said her goodbyes and gone in a different direction, it clearly can’t be her.

Supporters of the theory have latched onto footage of Ilsa from Fallout and compared it to the mysterious Final Reckoning woman. The stranger has a similar wavy hairstyle to Ilsa, and a choice in baggy clothes. It would also be a neat parallel of the pair parting ways and going in different directions (in London, no less) during Rogue Nation.

Others have likened this theory to Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne meeting with Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle after he faked his death in The Dark Knight Rises. Given Ferguson’s raised profile in Silo and the Dune movies, landing her again would be a major coup, but what has the star herself said?

Ferguson has previously explained why she felt the need to step away from Mission: Impossible, telling the Unwrapped podcast how it was more than just her three-movie deal being done: “Ilsa was becoming a team player. And we all can want different things, but for me, Ilsa was rogue. Ilsa was naughty. Ilsa was unpredictable. There was a lot of characters coming in, not leaving enough space for what she had been.”

We previously said how Ilsa’s Dead Reckoning death effectively ‘fridged’ her character to catapult Ethan’s arc forward and leave more room for Grace to step up as a franchise lead. Most frustratingly, after becoming a mainstay of the previous two movies, she was forced to take a backseat in the first half of Dead Reckoning and given a quick demise that was barely referenced afterward. Going against the idea that we’ll see Ilsa again, Dead Reckoning’s Arabian-set opening already had Ethan help her fake her death. It’s true that we don’t see what happens to her body, but a double fake out might be even too much for a franchise that’s taught us to never trust what we see thanks to its mask technology and old-fashioned sleight of hand. 

Another reason you shouldn’t start cheering Ilsa’s welcome return to Mission: Impossible is that McQuarrie might have shut down the theory before it even got to do the rounds. The issue of Ilsa’s absence has been a hotly contested one, especially considering Ferguson only appeared via archive footage without filming anything new. Despite the controversy, McQuarrie told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that “it’s the cost versus benefit. The death of essential characters has followed Ethan [Hunt] throughout every one of these movies. I don’t think up until that point a character that resonated so deeply with the audience had died.” While the director says he understands why some were dissatisfied with how it happened, he concluded, “Which is where I thought that wouldn’t motivate me to undo the one thing that gives Mission: Impossible teeth, which is ‘death is permanent’.”

It’s no secret that the Mission: Impossible movies have tried their best to tie up loose ends. Thandiwe Newton denied rumors she was asked to reprise her role as Nyah Nordoff-Hall in Mission: Impossible III, Jeremy Renner recently told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he turned down another chance to play William Brandt because he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, and Maggie Q told Yahoo in 2020 that she had to turn down two opportunities to reappear as Zhen Li due to filming commitments.

Unfortunately for Faust fans, it sounds like McQuarrie thinks she got the ending he wanted. It might be hard to keep Ferguson’s return a secret if there’s another Mission: Impossible, and we’re still a long way from potentially seeing Isla Faust again.