While Tom Cruise has always been the main draw when it comes to the Mission: Impossible franchise, over the years several other characters have made their way into fans’ hearts. One such character is Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust.

Faust debuted as the first female lead in the franchise in 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Since then, she had become a staple part of the franchise until her death in Dead Reckoning Part One. While fans now mourn for her, Ferguson could have remained part of the franchise had Cruise fixed one major problem.

Rebecca Ferguson‘s Ilsa Faust, the first female lead of the franchise, died in Dead Reckoning after a fight with Gabriel on a Venice bridge after a fight. Stabbed in the heart, many speculated that the character’s death might be a fakeout, however, the actress’ departure from the franchise proves that Faust’s death is permanent.

However, there was a possibility that Ferguson could have made a comeback in what would have been her fourth MI film, Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning. But the actress willingly chose not to due to one major problem with the franchise.

As the actress revealed in an interview with TheWrap, the biggest problem with the franchise was that it took too much time to film.

When the fourth film was going to be written and they came with the offer, there was not that much to be done with Ilsa. And unless you can have a lot of screen time. That’s a lot of time sitting around waiting to film.

Given that the Mission: Impossible films are extravagant and huge with not much of a script, and sometimes take up to a year to film, Ferguson found it best to walk away. Eager to work and not wanting to sit around waiting that she might have a scene, Ferguson, despite loving the franchise and the character, decided not to come around.

The Mission: Impossible franchise, led by Tom Cruise, has been a cornerstone of action cinema, known for its adrenaline-fueled plots and high-stakes missions. Still, the franchise is not without its controversies, with the biggest of them all being Rebecca Ferguson’s exit as MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023).

However, as the actress revealed, it was the film’s unrelenting and unpredictable schedule that made her not come back. During her interview with TheWrap, Ferguson remarked that the franchise is so demanding that an actor needs to be always prepared, ‘you have to literally jump when they say jump.’

So although this makes it a thrilling and exciting experience, this ‘waiting around’ and ‘training for months’ made her unable to take on other projects. As she stated in the interview, she completed two seasons of Silo and two Dune movies while Final Reckoning was still in production.

Had Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie given more importance to Ilsa Faust while streamlining the production to accommodate the actress’ needs, we might still have Ilsa Faust with us. Prioritizing a more structured timeline, with clearly defined shooting blocks for key characters, would have given Ferguson the flexibility she needed.

However, knowing that it is the franchise’s extravagance and improvisational approach that makes Mission: Impossible what it is, it is unlikely that such actions would have worked in favor of the overall final product. Hence, while we miss the actress and her character, the franchise’s quirks and nuances ultimately made Mission: Impossible a mission impossible for Rebecca Ferguson.