The Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One trailer unveiled Hayley Atwell’s mystery character. It’s been known since 2019 that the Captain America: The First Avenger actress will be taking part in Tom Cruise’s next outing as the IMF agent. Not only that, but she’s also set to reprise her role in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part Two.
The trailer for the highly anticipated seventh installment in Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible franchise allowed for a deep look at Ethan Hunt’s next adventure. Without revealing exactly what he’ll be up against or what the mission will be, the trailer teased an end to Hunt’s espionage career while also showing off more dangerous stunts from Tom Cruise, returning favorites from the previous Mission: Impossible entries, and Esai Morales’ character, who may very well be the main villain. Somehow involved in all of this is a new character played by Hayley Atwell, who was featured quite heavily in the footage. From the looks of things, she’ll be sharing a lot of screen-time with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.
An Instagram post from 2020 seemingly revealed that Atwell is playing a character named Grace. The Mission: Impossible 7 trailer teases (but doesn’t confirm) that Grace will be an ally to Tom Cruise’s character. Multiple shots showed her on the run with Ethan, which indicates that the two will be working together as a pair for at least a portion of the movie’s story. Ethan trying to escape with Grace in the trailer is a sign that she’ll be a target of the villains for an unknown reason. However, none of this proves that Grace is on his side.
Mission: Impossible 7 director Christopher McQuarrie called her a “destructive force of nature” that will cross paths with Ethan Hunt’s team, which reveals that whoever she is, she has the potential to shake things up in a huge way. Atwell herself has commented on the “ambiguity” of her role and how the movie will explore “her resistance to a situation she finds herself in” [via JoBlo]. What all this implies is that Grace is a character who somehow gets roped into Ethan Hunt’s next mission, and someone who may not necessarily be allied with the heroes or the villains – or at least, not at first.
Her Mission: Impossible 7 story may call for her to eventually choose a side, which could provide setup for her role in Tom Cruise’s final Mission: Impossible movie. So for now, whether or not she becomes an ally or a major villain will remain one of the movie’s biggest mysteries. But regardless, it seems Hayley Atwell’s Grace will be vital to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One and what comes next for Ethan and his team. Since she’ll be in both of his last two movies, she could also factor heavily into how the franchise brings Ethan Hunt’s story to a close.
