The Mission: Impossible Series Dropped Jeremy Renner Just As Quickly As It Introduced Him

When it comes to franchises, Jeremy Renner is a bit like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, only for Lucy to pull it away at the last second. His "Bourne" spinoff, "The Bourne Legacy," was meant to make Renner the new face of the property, but those plans were abandoned after the film's middling box office haul. He then spent years waiting to headline a solo Marvel Cinematic Universe project as Clint Barton, only for the eventual "Hawkeye" series to serve as a passing of the torch (er, arrow) from Clint to his protege, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).

Perhaps most infamously of all, Tom Cruise was very nearly retired as the star of the "Mission: Impossible" films in 2011's "Ghost Protocol," with Renner — who co-starred as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) Secretary's aide and analyst William Brandt — first in line to serve as his successor. It's pretty wild to think Paramount seriously considered this idea looking back now, but you have to remember: at the time, the series was at a crossroads. "Mission: Impossible III" was only a modest success, while it stood to reason Cruise would eventually want to stop playing Ethan Hunt. Different times, eh?

Ultimately, those plans were abandoned after Christopher McQuarrie did uncredited rewrites on "Ghost Protocol," prior to assuming the series' helm on 2015's "Rogue Nation." In spite of this, Renner reprised his role as Brandt for "Rogue Nation," only for the character to vanish without a trace in-between that film and the sixth entry, "Fallout."

Speaking on Empire Magazine's podcast in 2018, McQuarrie explained that Renner had to pass on the film due to his commitment to "Avengers: Infinity War," which came out the same year as "Fallout." Ironically, Renner wound up not appearing in "Infinity War," making that earlier Charlie Brown analogy all the more apt.

Christopher McQuarrie was sympathetic to Jeremy Renner's plight, saying the actor's absence in "Fallout" was necessary to ensure he and Tom Cruise had "absolute freedom" to figure out what the film should be. "The unfortunate thing for Jeremy is that he got caught in this perfect storm of, one can't use you and one doesn't know how to, given the massive complications they had with 'Avengers,'" McQuarrie added.

At one point, McQuarrie even had an idea for how to write Brandt out of the franchise. "I had this whole idea that ['Fallout'] would start with the death of a team member," he said. He realized it couldn't be Ethan's longtime co-workers Luther (Ving Rhames) or Benji (Simon Pegg). "[...] No matter how many movies into it, it's always going to be the same thing. You killed the Black guy. And we didn't think the movie could recover if you killed Benji," explained McQuarrie. He wasn't wrong on either count.

Instead, he pitched the idea of killing off Brandt to Renner. As McQuarrie recalled:

"So I said to Renner, 'Hey listen, I have this idea for an opening sequence where you sacrifice yourself to save the team, and that the mission-gone-wrong not only involves losing the plutonium but involves the death of a team member.' And Jeremy was like, 'Thanks, but no thanks'. [...] He was smart not to take the short paycheck for three days of work and getting blown up."

That also left the door open for Brandt to return in the upcoming "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two" following his absence in "Part One." It might be a long shot, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time a "Mission: Impossible" character reappeared after vanishing years earlier.

Perhaps Renner will get to kick that football after all.