'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' trailer hints at Tom Cruise’s final and most dangerous mission

After almost three decades of gravity-defying stunts and nail-biting missions, Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The trailer for the eighth film in the series has just dropped, and it doesn’t hold back. Packed with intense action sequences, familiar faces, and throwbacks to past missions, this one feels like a full-circle moment for the franchise and possibly a final goodbye.

The trailer opens with voices from Hunt’s past with colleagues, enemies, and government officials recalling his long record of impossible feats. From plane dives to underwater escapes and motorbike stunts off cliffs, his legacy is front and centre. But this time, the stakes are different. A new global threat is on the rise, and Hunt’s past seems to be catching up with him. His secrets are exposed, and powerful forces believe it’s time to stop him. One voice sums it up: “If we want to save the world, we need to deal with Ethan Hunt.”

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Cruise, known for doing his own dangerous stunts, is seen once again putting his life on the line. There's a mid-air stunt, a submarine dive, and plenty of high-speed chases. This isn’t just another mission, instead it’s the one everything has led to. “I need you to trust me one last time,” he says, hinting at a finale filled with betrayal, trust, and perhaps closure.

The trailer pays tribute to the earlier films, with quick flashes of iconic moments from the CIA vault drop in the original film to the Burj Khalifa climb and the helicopter chase.

“Trust me one last time” — Tom Cruise gears up for what could be his final run as the iconic superspyYoutube/Paramount Pictures

Christopher McQuarrie returns as director, continuing his run with the series since Rogue Nation. The returning cast includes Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales. New faces like Hannah Waddingham and Nick Offerman join the action this time around.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning releases in cinemas on May 23, 2025. Whether this truly is Ethan Hunt’s last mission remains to be seen. But if the trailer is anything to go by, he’s not going out quietly.