The Ultimate Face-Off: Mission: Impossible 7 Villain Actor Teases Mind-Blowing Role in Tom Cruise Sequel

In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, a range of new villains are introduced, one of whom has a particular vendetta against Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise. The upcoming installment of this long-standing action franchise follows Ethan and his team as they race against time to acquire a powerful weapon capable of wiping out humanity. Unlike previous missions, Ethan finds himself targeted by multiple enemies, raising the stakes for him and the people close to him.

In preparation for the film's upcoming release, Screen Rant had an exclusive conversation with Shea Whigham, who plays a villain in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. Whigham provided some insight into his character's personal mission of hunting down Ethan, highlighting how this role differs from previous villainous roles he has portrayed. Read on to discover what Whigham shared.

Yeah, when beginning a project, it is always essential to have a distinct perspective. The characters in the story possess their own perspectives, and I attempted to make it particularly personal through Ethan. Additionally, it is vital to have characters who undergo a transformation by the end. That is precisely what he was emphasizing - I believe we both start in the same place, with the determination to retrieve Ethan at any cost. As a result, their characters experience a change in perspective that is intriguing to observe. Unfortunately, our characters do not typically have the opportunity to fully explore that aspect.

How Whigham's M:I 7 Villain Twists A Franchise Trend

In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Whigham takes on the role of Jasper Briggs, an enforcer for "The Community" - a group comprising of different intelligence agencies. Tasked by the group, Briggs joins forces with his partner, Greg Tarzan Davis' Degas, in pursuit of Ethan. While this may seem like a typical element of the action spy genre, Whigham's portrayal of the villain brings a surprising twist to one of the longstanding trends in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

In the original Mission: Impossible movie, Ethan Hunt, played by Cruise, often found himself fleeing from government agencies, including his own employers, the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), in order to complete his mission. This has caused distrust among many higher-ups, although Ethan is typically proven innocent by the end of each film.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One reveals that multiple government agencies are now closely monitoring Ethan and attempting to apprehend him, suggesting that the consequences of his previous escapades have caught up with him. Since the sequel's story is divided into two movies by writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, it will be interesting to see if Part One deviates from the franchise's usual pattern of clearing Ethan's name and instead leaves him with a suspenseful cliffhanger.