The filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie discusses major character deaths, the end (or is it?) of an action-movie franchise and what comes next.

Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning has positioned itself as one of the biggest 2025 movies, with the action film reviving the summer box office the past two weeks alongside Lilo & Stitch. But was I expecting to see Glen Powell’s mom to accept the mission herself and be caught smiling for a photo with its behemoth star, Tom Cruise? No, I did not!