Is that ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ character really dead?

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Mission: Impossible 7.

The Mission: Impossible franchise isn’t quite as notorious for bringing people back from the dead as the Fast & Furious films, but in a world where IMF agents can wear perfect replicas of someone else’s face it’s often best not to trust the evidence of our eyes in this movies. So that’s what’s leading to fans needing some clarification on whether a huge twist in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is really all it appears to be.

As this is the first half of an epic two-part storyline that may or may not conclude the Mission: Impossible saga for good (probably not, let’s be honest), it was always going to pull out some shocking measures in order to ramp up the stakes as Ethan Hunt and his team embark on their most dangerous mission yet. And, yes, sadly that means that one of Ethan’s loyal band of world-savers meets their end during the film’s events. So what happens and did it, you know, actually happen?

Spoilers incoming!

Is Ilsa Faust really dead or could Rebecca Ferguson return for Mission: Impossible 8?

At the beginning of the film, Ethan Hunt is sent after Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, appearing in her third M: I movie, after Rogue Nation and Fallout), who has a bounty placed on her after acquiring one of the all-important cruciform keys. Tracking her to the Arabian desert, Ilsa is apparently shot and killed as Ethan retrieves the key. However, it later turns out that Ethan helped Ilsa fake her death so she could lay low.

Later on, Ilsa rejoins Ethan, Benji, Luther, and their new ally Grace as they go after villain Gabriel in Rome. Working for a vast artificial intelligence called the Entity that can predict events with precision accuracy, Gabriel foretells that either Grace or Ilsa will die and Ethan won’t be able to save them. Sure enough, when Gabriel goes on the run and holds Grace captive, Ilsa intercedes to save her but is stabbed to death herself.

The death of Ilsa naturally hits Ethan hard and only intensifies his hatred for Gabriel. It’s also no doubt designed to smack the fans across the face too, considering how popular Ilsa is with audiences. For that very reason, however, it’s hard to imagine we’ve seen the last of Ferguson in this franchise, with at least some kind of flashback or cameo in Dead Reckoning Part Two feeling assured.

Nevertheless, as much as we might miss Ilsa, keeping her dead would undoubtedly be better for the integrity of the story. But then we’d lose out on more of Ethan and Ilsa’s intriguing, quasi-platonic, quasi-romantic bond. Let’s just hope writer/director Christopher McQuarrie knows what he’s doing.