'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation': Director Christopher McQuarrie Talks About The Villain

“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” director Christopher McQuarrie says new villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) "believes that what he’s doing is good.” McQuarrie, in an interview with Screen Rant, said he did not want to create a character who was bad for the sake of being bad.

“I started to realize who Lane was and what he was after and realized that he was not acting on his own but that was acting with a much larger network. That network needed an identity. I thought, “Well, that’s what The Syndicate is. They’re not evil for evil’s sake. Solomon Lane believes that what he’s doing is good,” he said.

Warning: Spoiler Ahead

Harris’s character creates chaos because he is mad at the world. He creates a plan and reportedly has the “upper hand” on Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in the movie.

McQuarrie said he saw no reason to kill Lane at the end of the film. “I’m not done with this character. I’m not resolved with this guy. And, more importantly, you, Ethan Hunt, are not a killer for killing’s sake. You haven’t been given the reason to kill him,” he said.

Harris also felt Hunt should not kill his character. He reportedly, texted Mcquarrie he does not see a “version of the film where Hunt kills Lane.”

“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” released July 31. It is the fifth installment in the “Mission: Impossible series” and so far has earned $120 million worldwide. The screenplay of the film was written by McQuarrie and Drew Pearce. The cast includes Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames and Alec Baldwin. J.J. Abrams, Cruise and Burk are among the producers. Joe Kraemer supplied the music and Robert Elswit did the cinematography.