Jeremy Renner Says He Refused To Have His Mission: Impossible Character Killed Off

Oscar-nominated actorJeremy Renner played William Brandt in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and some believed he might have been in the running to take over the mantle from Tom Cruise to lead the series in the future. That was never the plan, Renner clarified in a recent interview in which he also discussed why he stopped making Mission: Impossible films.

He said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that director Christopher McQuarrie wanted Renner to fly over to London for a week to film a scene in an unspecified Mission: Impossible film that killed off Brandt. But Renner refused.

"I was like, 'No, you don't get to do that. You're not going to drag me over there and just kill my character,' like get out of here!" Renner said. "If you're going to do this and you're going to use my character, you're going to do it right."

Renner joked that he yelled at McQuarrie about this, going on to say that he told the director, "Dude, you’re not going to do this to me like that; you're not going to do me wrong."

As for whether or not Renner was being eyed to take over the lead in the Mission: Impossible series, he pushed back, saying Cruise would ultimately get to make that call. "It was always Tom's show," he said.

In a previous interview, Renner said he bowed out of the Mission: Impossible series so he could spend time with his family after the birth of his daughter.

"I was supposed to do more with them. I love those guys. I love Tom [Cruise] so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot. It requires a lot of time away. It's all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn't gonna work out then," Renner said.

Ghost Protocol came out in 2011. His daughter, Ava, was born in 2013. Now that his daughter is older, Renner said he's open to making more Mission: Impossible films if it ever works out.

"Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen. I'd always jump into a Mission: Impossible anytime and back into Brandt. It's great," he said.

The Mission: Impossible series continued in 2023 with Dead Reckoning: Part One. A sequel, originally known as Dead Reckoning: Part Two, was delayed to 2025 and is now simply titled Mission: Impossible 8.

As for Renner, he stars on the show Mayor of Kingstown, which just came back for its third season. It's the first time we're seeing Renner back on screen after his horrifying accident where he broke 30+ bones.