‘I think it’s a joke at first’: A ‘Mission: Impossible’ veteran wasn’t expecting to get a call after three decades away

Warning: Light spoilers for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One to follow.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has finally made its way to cinemas, and while this likely won’t be the last we see of Ethan Hunt following Part Two next summer, it certainly feels like a full-circle moment for the franchise; between Ethan’s standoff with his oldest, most heinous, and most formative enemy yet and stakes that look nigh-untouchable right now, it’s hard to imagine the way forward for the ninth installment.

As far as coming full-circle goes, no one epitomizes such a notion in Dead Reckoning quite like Henry Czerny, who makes his grand return to the franchise as IMF and CIA director Eugene Kittridge after a 27-year-long absence. In other words, when it comes to legacy character comebacks, his is the most lucrative one you can get.

The return was so unprecedented, in fact, that Czerny quite literally didn’t believe it at first; in an interview with Variety, the Scream VI star recalled being in the middle of running errands when he got the call, initially not buying the claim that Dead Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie wanted him back.

“I think it’s a joke at first because my reps called me and said they want to bring Kittridge back and I’m in the middle of doing my errands in Los Angeles and fighting traffic or shredding old tax documents. I think, ‘Okay, what’s going on really?’ They say, ‘Chris McQuarrie wants to talk to you about bringing Kittridge back,’ and I take it seriously. Two days later, I’m on a call with Chris McQuarrie.”

Kittridge was something of an antagonist in the original Mission: Impossible, wrongly suspecting Ethan of being a mole in the IMF and subsequently spending the film hunting him down. This time around, he’s much more involved in his villainy; as one of the interested buyers of the key that controls the all-powerful AI known as the Entity, it’s safe to say that any man chasing that sort of power for himself isn’t to be trusted.

From accidental villain to much more intentional villain, the nature of Czerny’s return was nothing short of poetic.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is now playing in theaters.