'Mission Impossible' Director Talks About Tom Cruise Not Leaving The Franchise

Christopher McQuarrie, who is responsible for directing the upcoming "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning," has opened up about rumors of Tom Cruise leaving the franchise after the next two installments.

The 53-year-old director shared he has been working with Cruise, 60, for 15 years, and witnessed many events. However, when he read about those events, later in the articles, they were often untrue.

"Let me tell you, I’ve been working with Tom Cruise for 15 years," McQuarrie said on the Light the Fuse podcast Wednesday. "I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been standing next to the man, witnessed an event and then read about it in the trades the next day and none of what they describe is actually true."

McQuarrie explained how these articles mention imaginary words in the headline, which makes you realize they comprise false information.

"When you read articles in the trades, just put the imaginary word in front of the headline: ‘The Agenda Is…’ When you read ‘anonymous sources’ or ‘sources close to the production say,’ that’s somebody putting it out there for a specific reason," he said. "That’s someone wanting others to think that for a specific reason, and you can never know for sure what those reasons are."

The director said over a period of time, one can learn how to ignore and laugh at such headlines. McQuarrie also shared how in today's world, within 17 minutes another news might sweep the old one away.

The director's comments came after rumors claimed "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning," which is slated to release in two parts, will mark Cruise's final movies in the action franchise.

"Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One" is slated to release next year, while "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part Two" will release in 2024.

Cruise first portrayed Ethan Hunt's character in the first installment, "Mission: Impossible" released in 1996. The actor reprised his character in the second installment, which was dropped in 2000. After six years, Cruise dropped the third installment.

The franchise's fourth installment, "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" was released in 2011 and the fifth installment, titled "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" was dropped after a gap of four years. The sixth installment, "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" came out in 2018.

Now, the fans are eagerly waiting for the seventh and eighth installment of the franchise.