Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt role may face dramatic end

Tom Cruise is back in action with more death-defying stunts in the new trailer for 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning', set to hit theaters on 23 May.

This latest instalment could mark the end of Cruise's iconic role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, as The Final Reckoning teases a dramatic conclusion to the Mission: Impossible series after eight films, according to Variety.

Originally pitched as a sequel to 2023's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, the film continues the storyline channeled on Hunt's desperate mission to prevent a rogue AI program, known as The Entity, from falling into dangerous hands and threatening global security.

As expected, audiences can look forward to the franchise's signature high-stakes action, with Cruise performing gravity-defying stunts. Among the jaw-dropping sequences is an underwater submarine pursuit, as well as a scene where Cruise clings to the outside of a moving aircraft.

In a recent interview with Empire, Cruise opened up about the physical challenges of filming these intense scenes, "When you stick your face out [of an airplane], going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you're not getting oxygen."

"So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit."