It has been rumoured that Tom Cruise’s turn as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible movies will be coming to an end after the seventh and eighth parts of the franchise titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2, respectively. In the latest episode of Light the Fuse podcast, director Christopher McQuarrie was asked about the same but he refused to confirm or deny the rumours. However, McQuarrie did say that a lot of what is reported by trade magazines is actually not true. When asked about Cruise quitting the franchise, the director said, “Let me tell you, I’ve been working with Tom Cruise for 15 years and I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been standing next to the man, witnessed an event and then read about it in the trades the next day and none of what they describe is actually true.” Christopher McQuarrie said that a lot of times, the reportage is based on an “agenda” and he has learnt to ignore it. “When you read articles in the trades, just put the imaginary word in front of the headline: ‘The Agenda Is…’ When you read ‘anonymous sources’ or ‘sources close to the production say,’ that’s somebody putting it out there for a specific reason. That’s someone wanting others to think that for a specific reason, and you can never know for sure what those reasons are. You learn to ignore it and laugh at it. In today’s world, you wait 17 minutes and another news cycle will sweep it away.” While McQuarrie was non-committal about Tom Cruise staying with the Mission Impossible franchise, the director did mention that he and the Top Gun star are set to collaborate on another project soon. He said, “It’s way outside of what you’re used to seeing Tom do. It’s the kind of stuff I really love.” Christopher McQuarrie directed 2015’s Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and the much loved Mission Impossible Fallout that released in 2018.