'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation’: Sean Harris Wanted His Character Solomon Lane To Be Killed

Sean Harris, who plays the villain Solomon Lane in “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” reportedly did not want to appear in the film. Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed in a recent interview that the 48-year-old English actor was not keen on doing a franchise film.

The director told Collider that Harris is “not the kind of guy” who likes to star in back-to-back installments. But when he finally decided to play Lane, he reportedly asked McQuarrie to kill his character.

“When I finally convinced him to be in it, the first thing he said to me was, ‘Promise me you’ll kill me. So just don’t bring me back because I don’t want to be in five of these movies,” McQuarrie said.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

However, Harris’ character is not killed in the film. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) takes him into custody and locks him in a bulletproof cell. McQuarrie reportedly could not find a convincing reason to kill Lane.

“Tom and I were really struggling with this idea and I came to him one night, very late at night and said, ‘I think the reason why we can’t resolve this movie is because I don’t feel the need to kill Lane. I don’t have the event in the movie that makes me want Ethan to kill him. He didn’t kill Goose,” McQuarrie said.

There are reportedly chances that Harris’ character may have a twin brother or a clone in the future films but nothing is set in the stone yet as to how he will be brought back.

“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” opened July 31. It has received rave reviews and has made over $127 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). McQuarrie has written the screenplay based on the American TV series “Mission Impossible” by Bruce Geller. Other cast members include Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames and Alec Baldwin. J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk produced the film.