Those Glen Powell Mission – Impossible Rumors Are Completely Missing the Point

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As much as he’s defied all human expectations for a 62-year-old, Tom Cruise‘s days of accepting treacherous missions are winding down. Age catches up with everyone, even for someone like Cruise, whose bankable and critically acclaimed Mission: Impossible franchise is centered around the star hanging off airborne planes, climbing skyscrapers, and launching off mountain cliffs while riding motorcycles. He’s reached increasingly new levels of daring stunts with each subsequent entry in the series, so much so that his only logical step is to perform a solo skydive from outer space.

The franchise’s next installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, hits theaters next May, and, given the title, it seems like it’ll be the final entry in the franchise. If that is the case, rumors have circulated that M:I will live on without Cruise. While it’s enticing to bequeath the throne to Cruise’s unofficial heir apparent, Glen Powell, the move would egregiously misread the franchise’s appeal and compromise Powell’s emergence as a movie star.

Glen Powell Has Had a Busy 2024

Glen Powell wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses as Tyler Owens, in Twisters. — Image via Universal Pictures

For all of 2024, Glen Powell has been the flavor of the month in movie culture. In an era starved of young movie stars free of capes or superpowers, Powell’s commitment to making mid-budget star vehicles like Anyone But You and Hit Man, and old-school blockbusters like Twisters, is a blessing. His origins as Cruise’s potential successor as the next great American movie star began in Top Gun: Maverick, where Powell played the hot shot pilot, Hangman. Cruise, who attended the Twisters premiere with his former co-star, seems to be endorsing him as his heir apparent, which makes the rumor of Powell taking over Mission: Impossible in the near future sensible, if not suspiciously obvious.

First and foremost, the report is nothing but a rumor making the rounds on the Internet with no sources corroborating this information. As an impromptu guest on The Pat McAfee Show, Powell, currently filming a remake of The Running Man directed by Edgar Wright, the host inquired about these rumors about taking over M:I, to which Powell jokingly responded, “My mom would never let me do that,” adding that the signature stunts in the series were a “death trap.” While not an explicit denial, he did not lend the rumor credence on the show.

Replacing Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Would Be Asking a Lot of Its New Star

For the sake of Mission: Impossible’s legacy and the future of Glen Powell’s promising career, this report is better off as a rumor rather than materializing as a fact. Filling Cruise’s shoes is a tall task, but the difficulty of passing the baton to another actor goes beyond the star’s movie star pedigree. The studio behind the series, Paramount, understands better than anyone, as they allegedly flirted with the idea of replacing Cruise with Jeremy Renner after the release of Ghost Protocol in 2011 (although Renner has denied this claim). What separates Mission: Impossible from the litany of action franchises beyond its impeccable craft is the stunt work, particularly Cruise’s show-stopping stunt serving as each respective film’s centerpiece meal. Asking any actor to carry Cruise’s devil-may-care approach to hazardous stunts is unreasonable and even reckless. During his McAfee phone call, you can hear Powell’s trepidation surrounding the thought of being the lead in M:I, as the honor requires you to put your life on the line.

For better or worse, Mission: Impossible is an extension of Tom Cruise’s public persona and likeness as a person. His commitment to the franchise has prevented any opportunity to return to the dramas that made him a household name in the 1990s. Cruise is so identifiable as the master of stunts and aerial choreography that the 2024 Summer Olympics closed out with Cruise jumping out of the sky. Cruise’s career pivot to adopt the role in culture as the modern-day Evel Knievel lends Mission: Impossible a personal attribute missing in most blockbusters.

Tom Cruise is so inseparable from Mission: Impossible that most would be remiss to acknowledge that it’s based on a 1960s television series that did not feature anyone named Ethan Hunt. All due respect to Bruce Geller, but this is Cruise’s story now. The prospect of Glen Powell, propped up as “the next Cruise” by some, being slotted into Cruise’s iconic role rings as lazy Hollywood talent management. From Powell’s perspective, who has made concentrated efforts to avoid being swallowed up by the franchise machine, working on expensive and lengthy movies like Mission: Impossible would be an albatross to his revival of movie star-driven mid-budget movies. Let him follow his own path. Besides, there’s no topping whatever bonkers stunt Cruise is about to pull off with The Final Reckoning, which may just be the last dance.

Mission: Impossible — The Finale Reckoning is expected to hit theaters May 23, 2025