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After the immaculate success of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible 7 became the most highly anticipated movie of Summer 2023. If we look at the box office numbers of this franchise, they don’t match the critical ratings, proving that Mission: Impossible movies have been highly underrated so far.
Along with Ethan Hunt and his team of spies, we’ve seen a few great villains emerge from this franchise. Now Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will bring another potentially amazing antagonist played by the former Deathstroke actor, Esai Morales. Not much is known about his character, but some new details teasing his connection to past movies have surfaced.
Mission Impossible 7 director talks about the new franchise villain
In a recent interview with EW, director Christopher McQuarrie spoke about the latest villain he is drafting into the Mission: Impossible franchise. He didn’t reveal the motives or the name of the new big bad, but he did drop an oddball by saying that Morales’ character is somehow connected to Ethan Hunt’s past.
McQuarrie said:
"I can tell you that he's definitely the antagonist in our story, or rather he is one of the antagonists in our story. He’s something of an enigma. You discover more about him over the course of the two movies. There's definitely more to him than meets the eye and he's something of a ghost of the past."
It’s important to note that Morales’ character is not the only villain in Mission Impossible 7 and 8. But clearly, he is shrouded in mystery, and revealing any more details about him might spoil the film itself. Hence, McQuarrie gave away only a few tidbits about the villain that was initially supposed to be played by Nicholas Hoult.
Why Nicholas Hoult could not play the part
X-Men: First Class and Mad Max: Fury Road actor almost got his big break playing the leading antagonist in Mission Impossible 7. Tom Cruise himself called the actor for the part, but Hoult had to drop out of the gig due to scheduling conflicts.
While speaking to The Guardian earlier this year, Hoult stated:
“I screen-tested for Batman and didn’t get it. Screen-tested for Top Gun, didn’t get it. Then I got the call from Tom Cruise: ‘Hey, how about Mission Impossible?’ OK. Got it. Then I had to drop out because I was already attached to do some more of The Great.”
Not starring in Mission Impossible 7 became a huge miss for Hoult, but it became an even bigger opportunity for Morales.
Fallout may have created a big villain problem for Mission Impossible 7
Mission: Impossible 3’s Owen Davian, played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, turned out to be a threatening villain, but then Rogue Nation and Fallout upped the ante by bringing in Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane and Henry Cavill’s August Walker. Together those two posed the toughest challenges for Hunt and his team.
Walker also proved to be the greatest physical opponent that Hunt had ever faced. So, Esai Morales’ character has some big shoes to fill. So far, the actor has shown promise while playing antagonists in DC’s Titans and Netflix’s Ozark. But casting him as the main villain could prove to be a big risk, which is why it’s a good thing that he isn’t the only antagonist.
Mission Impossible 7 hits theaters on July 12.
