Real Reason Rebecca Ferguson Quit 'Mission: Impossible' Franchise: "I Want to Work"
From the first minutes of her appearance on screen, Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust won the hearts of Mission: Impossible fans. Here is why the actress decided not to participate in the final film after appearing in three installments.
Over its nearly 30-year history, the Mission: Impossible franchise has introduced us to memorable male spies, ranging from the selfless Ethan Hunt to August Walker.
There have been far fewer female characters, but Rogue Nation introduced Ilsa Faust, an MI6 agent embedded in the criminal organization The Syndicate, played by Rebecca Ferguson.
Ilsa Faust Became One of the Most Important 'Mission: Impossible' Characters in Rogue Nation
While Rogue Nation focuses on the confrontation between Ilsa and Ethan, as well as the romantic tension between them, Fallout allows Ethan to move on from his past with his ex-wife and open himself up to a new romantic relationship.
However, Ilsa is intriguing to us not as a love interest but as an independent character. After all, she is a trained spy with experience who demonstrated in Fallout how important her role is in Hunt's team.
Ferguson has appeared in three Mission: Impossible films: Rogue Nation, Fallout, and Dead Reckoning. She had the opportunity to appear in the final movie, but decided to end Ilsa Faust's story.
Rebecca Ferguson Revealed She Wanted to Make Other Projects
On the UnWrapped podcast, Ferguson explained her decision, saying that although she loves this character, there was no other choice for her:
“That's a lot of time to make a Mission film. And unless you're going to have a lot of screen time, that's a lot of time sitting around waiting to film a huge movie that could take over a year to film. [...] I want to work. I don't want to sit in a trailer and know that there's maybe coming a scene in credits.”
The actress added that she managed to star in two Dune movies and two seasons of the Apple TV+ sci-fi series Silo during this time.
Ilsa Faust Won the Hearts of Millions of 'Mission: Impossible' Fans
Many viewers consider Ilsa the best female character not only in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but also in the action genre. Reddit user Broad-Flounder477 wrote:
“Ilsa probably had one of the smoothest entrances out of any character in the franchise [...]. Ferguson and Cruise have impeccable chemistry and the character is just a complete badass. She is probably the best female action character ever created, definitely my favorite.”
In some ways, Ilsa is a revolutionary character. Her very presence as a character who is in no way inferior to the main character is an incredible turn for films of this genre.
Previously, next to brutal spies, there could only be sexy lovers or damsels in distress. Not only did Ilsa Faust appear on screen often, she was also an important part of the plot.
