‘I think that will be impossible for Ethan Hunt’: Hayley Atwell identifies which 3 missions the ‘Dead Reckoning’ character would fail

Ethan Hunt is indestructible. He’s become Tom Cruise’s signature character, and has managed to repeatedly do the (you guessed it) impossible over the course of six Mission: Impossible films. He’s scaled buildings, held his breath for minutes on end, and saved the world more times than any fictional character that isn’t named James Bond. But can he take a nap?

The cast of the latest Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning Part One, recently sat down for an interview with IMDb, and they have some thoughts about what Ethan Hunt would struggle to get done. Greg Tarzan Davis, who plays the villainous Degas, was legitimately stumped by the prompt. “Honestly, that is scary to say, because if you give him the idea, he will really do it,” Davis noted. “So I’m kind of skeptical to give any type of ideas planted in his head.”

Hayley Atwell, who plays the mysterious Grace, had other ideas. She thinks that Hunt would struggle to maintain his perfectionism when faced with having to run a chef’s kitchen. He definitely has the stamina and the multitasking abilities to get orders out on time (have you seen him run?), but there’s something humorous about the no-nonsense IMF agent having to deal with customers.

“I think juggling plates and having to deliver a Michelin star restaurant cuisine over and over again with the threat of starting kitchen fires and having angry customers giving up and walking out,” Atwell explained. “You know, I want to see something sort of more domestic.”

The actress emerged the winner of the prompt, however, when she proposed an even simpler task: napping. “I think his biggest challenge would be probably taking a nap,” she concluded. “I think that will be impossible for Ethan Hunt. Can he take a nap?”

The concept of Hunt sleeping was so bizarre that Pom Klementieff seconded it. The actress, who plays French assassin Paris, said that she couldn’t imagine seeing Hunt, or Cruise, for that matter, catch a few z’s. “I can’t imagine Ethan or Tom taking a nap”, she admitted. “Or a holiday? Like a beach holiday. With a cocktail, just on the beach, like tanning. Oh my god, I don’t think so.”

To the cast’s credit, Hunt has spent most of the Mission: Impossible films struggling to stay awake. In the first film, he was forced to stay up all night and research the events that led to his IMF team being killed. There’s even a moment where he snaps out of his dazed state and pulls a gun on one of his own.

In Mission: Impossible III (2006), Hunt gets knocked out and has an explosive charge implanted in his head! He saves the day and short circuits the charge, because of course he does, but given what happens when he lets his guard down, we can’t say we blame him for always being on alert. Cruise did recently state his intention to continue making Mission: Impossible films until he’s 80, so maybe we’ll get to see him take a nap then.