When it comes to theMission: Impossiblefranchise, you never know which characters are going to carry over from film to film.Ving Rhamesis the only actor besidesTom Cruisewho’s been in all six movies, and whileSimon Pegghas stuck around sinceMission: Impossible III, various outside forces are to blame for the disappearance ofPaula Patton,Thandie Newton, and in the latest installmentMission: Impossible – Fallout,Jeremy Renner.
At one time, Renner was positioned to possibly take over theMissionfranchise from Cruise, and early versions ofGhost Protocolset that film up as a hand-off of sorts to Renner’s character Brandt. That ended up not happening asRogue NationandFalloutwriter/directorChristopher McQuarriecame intoGhost Protocolduring production and reworked the script a bit, but Renner made a great impression inGhost Protocoland returned for a fun arc inRogue Nation.
Many assumed that Renner wasn’t returning toFalloutbecause he would be busy shootingAvengers: Infinity War, but as we now know, Hawkeye is nowhere to be found in that firstAvengersmovie. So why is Jeremy Renner not inMission: Impossible – Fallout? Speaking on theEmpire podcast, McQuarrie explained his dilemma:
“Jeremy had his commitment toAvengers, which ironically they ended up not exercising, and we didn’t know what the [sixthMission] movie was, so we couldn’t provide a schedule. We needed absolute freedom. The unfortunate thing for Jeremy is that he got caught in this perfect storm of, one can’t use you and one doesn’t know how to, given the massive complications they had withAvengers.”
McQuarrie has been honest about the fact that duringRogue Nation’s production, Renner grew frustrated. The film was shooting in London but the script was changing on the fly, so Renner was having to leave his family back home and sometimes not be needed on set right away.
So it’s possible those feelings are why, when McQuarrie asked Renner if he wanted to make an impactful cameo inFallout, the actor turned him down. Indeed, McQuarrie’s initial idea was to kill off Brandt in the opening scene ofFallout:
“I had this whole idea that the movie would start with the death of a team member. And of course the first team member that’s always the first guy we talk about killing is Luther. Luther died in the first movie, and he quite famously said to Tom Cruise, ‘Hey man, how come the brother’s always gotta die?’ And Tom said, ‘You’re right.’ He was like, ‘Why do I gotta be the bad guy?’ And they made Luther nefarious and then suddenly a good guy, and six movies later it was the smartest question anybody’s ever asked Tom Cruise […] So I said to Jeremy, look we can’t kill Ving, it’s never going to work. No matter how many movies into it, it’s always going to be the same thing. You killed the black guy. And we didn’t think the movie could recover if you killed Benji.”
So McQuarrie pitched Renner on the idea of flying in for a few days’ work to give Brandt a major sendoff and startFalloutwith a bang. Renner, however, wasn’t having it:
“So I said to Renner, ‘Hey listen, I have this idea for an opening sequence where you sacrifice yourself to save the team, and that the mission-gone-wrong not only involves losing the plutonium, but involves the death of a team member.’ And Jeremy was like, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ […] He was smart not to take the short paycheck for three days of work and getting blown up.”
This is pretty interesting, and would have radically changed the whole dynamic ofFallout. In the current version of the film [SPOILER ALERT], Ethan shoots Luther in the chest in order to save his life, knowing Luther’s wearing a bulletproof vest. But I suppose if Renner had returned, Ethan would have hesitated long enough for the film’s baddies to off Brandt.
It’ll be interesting to see if Renner returns for aMissionfilm down the line now that Brandt is still alive. It could go either way really, but I do think the character is a fascinating addition to the team, so I’d love to see him return.
