Who dies in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One?
The latest entry in the Tom Cruise action franchise has just landed in UK cinemas.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1
After scoring a huge hit with Top Gun: Maverick last year, Tom Cruise is back in cinemas reprising another of his iconic roles this summer – playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt in a seventh instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The mission which he chooses to accept this time around pertains to a mysterious AI weapon known only as the Entity, which has already been causing all sorts of havoc in the digital world.
Naturally, a number of powerful and shady figures – including IMF head honcho Eugene Kittridge himself – are desperate to get their mitts on the key that would unlock this weapon, and so it falls to Ethan and his allies old and new to get there first.
Of course, this being a Mission: Impossible film there are all sorts of dangers along the way, and so it was perhaps always inevitable that not all of the film's characters would escape unscathed.
Read on for confirmation of who dies in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1, with the warning that there are obviously major spoilers for the film up ahead.
By entering your details you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Who dies in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One?
The following major characters died in Mission: Impossible -Dead Reckoning Part One.
- Ilsa Faust
- Denlinger
The most major death in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is one that will no doubt prove a huge disappointment to long-term fans of the franchise – with Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust killed off in the middle section of the film.
The enigmatic former MI6 agent was first introduced in the fifth film in the franchise – Rogue Nation – and went on to become one of Ethan's key allies in both that film and the subsequent entry Fallout.
She again plays a major role in the early events of Dead Reckoning Part 1 (even surviving what first appeared to be a certain death in the opening section), but things take a turn for the worse when she and Ethan infiltrate a party held by Alanna Mitsopolis/The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) in Venice.
Read more:
- Mission: Impossible's Simon Pegg would "love" a Benji and Ilsa spin-off
- Mission: Impossible's Hayley Atwell on what surprised her about Tom Cruise
Here, it emerges that Alanna has allied with antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales) who explains to Ethan that either Ilsa or his new ally Grace (Hayley Atwell) must die – something the IMF agent refuses to accept.
Sadly, however, the prediction proves correct. As a fight between the two factions spills into the streets of Venice, Ethan is first distracted fighting Gabriel's colleague Paris (Pom Klementieff) and then misdirected by the Entity and is thus unable to stop Ilsa from being mortally wounded by Gabriel.
Ilsa is no doubt the most significant death in the film, but she's not the only character to bite the dust.
Shady and power-hungry National Intelligence director Denlinger – a new character played by Cary Elwes – is shot dead by Gabriel during the climactic sequence on the Orient Express after first trying to ally himself with the villain.
On the train, Denlinger spills some crucial information to Gabriel regarding exactly what the key unlocks (the chamber holding the computer of the sunk submarine Sevastopol) and equipped with this knowledge Gabriel deems Denlinger surplus to requirements and kills him.
Did Paris die in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One?
At the same time, he also severely wounds Paris – explaining that he believes she will betray him – but although it looks like her days are numbered, she's not yet dead by the end of the film.
Although struggling badly with her injuries, she is able to save Ethan and Grace from near death and pass on the information about Sevastopol before she falls unconscious.
At first, it looks like that might be it for Paris, but an IMF agent later declares that he can still feel a pulse – and so it looks like we'll still be seeing more of this character in Part 2.
Read More
- Meet the cast of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1
- Mission: Impossible's Simon Pegg would "love" a Benji and Ilsa spin-off
- Mission: Impossible's Hayley Atwell on what surprised her about Tom Cruise
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is now showing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.