Sniper: Rogue Mission is the ninth entry in the ongoing franchise, but do series vets Tom Berenger or Billy Zane make any kind of appearance? While it might not be a blockbuster brand on par with The Matrix, Sniper has to be one of the most resistant action series that debuted in the '90s. The original movie arrived in 1993, casting Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as veteran sniper Thomas Beckett and his protege Richard Miller respectively. While still an action movie, Sniper was something of a dark character drama, where Beckett and Miller clashed over the morality of their assignment.

Berenger later returned for a pair of STV sequels in the early 2000s, with Sniper 3 seemingly intended to wrap up the trilogy. The property was dusted off once more with 2011's Sniper: Reloaded, where the previous unmentioned son of Beckett (played by Chad Michael Collins) teamed up with Zane's Miller for a new mission in Africa. Collins has since become the de facto lead of the Sniper franchise, having returned as Brandon Beckett for five sequels.

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That includes 2022's Sniper: Rogue Mission, where Brendon teams up with his former foe Lady Death (Sayaka Akimoto) to take down a gang of sex traffickers. Since Brandon Beckett inherited the series, Tom Berenger or Billy Zane have alternated supporting roles. Berenger returned for both Legacy and Assassin's End, where Zane took on grizzled vet status in Reloaded and 2016's Ghost Shooter. The seventh outing Sniper: Ultimate Kill pulled an Avengers: Endgame by uniting Berenger, Zane and Collins together for the first time. However, Rogue Mission marks the first time neither Berenger nor Zane have appeared in a series entry.

Sniper: Rogue Mission Sets Up More Sequels

the cast of sniper rogue mission

Rogue Mission also makes no mention of Beckett Sr or Miller. The movie does, however, bring back Dennis Haysbert (24's David Palmer) from Legacy and Ghost Shooter. Haysbert's Stone gets his own subplot in Rogue Mission, as he's about to retire from the CIA and has become jaded after witnessing decades of corruption. While he has retired by the end of the movie - having taken down a corrupt agent - he decides to stick around and create the Global Response and Intelligent Team (AKA G.R.I.T), consisting of Brendon, Lady Death and Ryan Robbins' Agent Zero.

That means at least one more Sniper movie is likely. Curiously, Sniper: Rogue Mission features less of an active role for Brendon, with the story feeling more like a Mission: Impossible-style ensemble. The film doesn't set up any ongoing storylines or loose threads, though, so the next outing will probably take the episodic approach of the previous sequels. That said, it would be nice to see a return for either Billy Zane or Tom Berenger next time - or preferably, both.