Why ‘Mission Impossible 7’ Is Titled ‘Dead Reckoning’

Now that the Mission Impossible franchise has become so large, there’s plenty to look back on. Mission Impossible 7 will do just that. Rather than opting for a radically new direction or anything like that, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt will face some old demons with higher stakes. In fact, the story is going to be so huge that the film will be split into two parts, both under the title of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.

Christopher McQuarrie, a director, writer and producer for the franchise, recently spoke with Empire about what sets Mission Impossible 7 apart from the rest of the franchise. He said: “There are many things emerging from Ethan’s past. ‘Dead reckoning’ is a navigational term. It means you’re picking a course based solely on your last known position and that becomes quite the metaphor not only for Ethan but several characters.”

It’s unclear who’s going to be making an unexpected cameo in the film, but we’ve seen some huge stars in the franchise’s past. Just a short list includes the likes of Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, and Angela Bassett. You can tell why people are excited. Aside from all of the star power potential, it sounds like they decided to go huge with stunts for this one.

The Mission Impossible series is perhaps most famous for the insane stunts performed throughout. Of course, there’s interesting tech, cool villains, and all of your normal action-movie stuff… But there’s also Tom Cruise, who does all of his own stunts in these films. In fact, in the trailer for the movie, he straight-up drives a motorcycle off of a cliff.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One is out on July 14, 2023, while fans of the series will have to wait until about a year later on June 28, 2024 for Part Two.

You can watch the trailer below: