‘Mission: Impossible’ MIAs: Remembering all Ethan Hunt’s vanished IMF teammates
Through eight Mission: Impossible movies across three decades, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt clearly had his favorite teammates among the Impossible Mission Force. Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) were Ethan’s ride-or-die guys, while Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) was like a force of nature in three of the M:I films.
So what happened to everybody else?
The Mission: Impossible movies didn’t always bother explaining why some characters returned while others were consigned to cinematic purgatory. Now that Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is in theaters, we’re taking a look back at Ethan Hunt’s forgotten IMF teammates. They were all fortunate enough to live through their movies, but they aren’t coming back any time soon.
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Billy Baird (John Polson)
Billy wasn’t just a helicopter pilot in Mission: Impossible 2. He was treated like an equal member of the team alongside Ethan and Luther. Billy was never going to be a leading man in this franchise, but he had big sidekick energy and he managed to not get himself killed in his initial IMF outing.
It certainly seemed like Billy was meant to return in a sequel, but instead a new character was introduced who basically took over his part.
Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandiwe Newton)
In Mission: Impossible 2, Nyah Nordoff-Hall was essentially the prototype for later M:I heroines including Ilsa and Grace (Hayley Atwell). Nyah was undercover like Ilsa and a daring thief like Grace. But Ethan still managed to turn her to his side and convince Nyah to spy on her former lover, Sean Patrick Ambrose (Dougray Scott).
Nyah had all of the attributes of a kick-ass heroine, and she was even willing to sacrifice her life to prevent anyone else from being infected by the Chimera virus. According to Newton, it was her call not to return. But the early films in the franchise would be very different if she had been around.
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Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)
Like Billy, Declan Gormley was a helicopter pilot and a stout ally to Ethan in Mission: Impossible III. He was also largely personality-free compared to Billy. As Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil might put it, Declan was the Diet Coke of good.
When Ethan tells Declan to stay behind, it doesn’t take much to convince him to follow orders. In the end, he just wasn’t memorable enough to bring back.
Zhen Lei (Maggie Q)
Like Declan, Zhen Lei (Maggie Q) wasn’t quite as compelling as her predecessor. Maggie Q seemed credible as an action actress, and that may be why she was cast in the Nikita series years later.
There’s nothing really wrong with Zhen’s character in Mission: Impossible III and she was loyal to Ethan. She also obeyed Ethan’s order to stand down, and only briefly reappeared to greet him and his wife when they returned.
Jane Carter (Paula Patton)
Jane Carter was the first female IMF agent to get a really meaty subplot in a Mission: Impossible picture. In Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux) murdered Jane’s lover and fellow IMF agent, Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway).
After that, Ethan had to make Jane promise she wouldn’t kill Sabine on sight because they still needed her. That added some good suspense when Jane and Sabine finally came face-to-face. It was actually a genuine surprise. She was also one of the most well-suited agents for Ethan’s full time team.
William Brandt (Jeremy Renner)
Ghost Protocol also introduced Jeremy Renner as William Brandt, a mere secretary’s aide rather than a lethal field agent. But once Ethan saw William in action, Ethan knew that William was too good to waste stuck behind a desk job.
William returned for the fifth film, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, making him one of the few supporting characters to get a second engagement. However, William was dropped from Mission: Impossible — Fallout with no explanation. In the aftermath of Renner’s 2023 snowplow accident, the actor hasn’t done too many roles. And he may not be able to handle the physical cost of starring in such an action-heavy franchise.