Watch Tom Cruise Dangle Off a Plane in New ‘Mission: Impossible

Paramount Pictures has unveiled a jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes video from the upcoming Mission: Impossible installment, and in true Tom Cruise fashion, it features yet another mind-melting stunt — one that finds the legendary action star literally clinging to the side of a flying airplane. Yep, he did that. Of course he did. The new footage of The Final Reckoning shows Cruise gripping the wing of an aircraft flying 8,000 feet above the ground — no green screen, no tricks, just Cruise doing Cruise things. The actor is strapped in with a single safety cable, but otherwise untethered as the plane soars through the sky with him on it.

In a voiceover, director Christopher McQuarrie shares just how disorienting the experience was, explaining that the altitude and speed made it difficult to even look around without getting dizzy. “You can’t imagine how physically punishing it was for Tom to be on the wing. The wind distorts your vision. It’s almost impossible to breathe.”

The footage is staggering, and reflects what star Simon Pegg told Collider as part of our Collider’s Exclusive Preview event to promote the summer’s biggest movies:

“Tom doesn’t do most of his stunts, he does ALL of his stunts. Our mantra has always been, the stunts are real. When you hand over to a stunt performer, the moment ceases to be about character and becomes all about the stunt. Tom and McQ know that those moments will become so much more impactful if it’s the actor in peril because the character remains present at all times.”

What Can We Expect From ‘The Final Reckoning’?

While details on the plot are being kept under wraps, the official synopsis reads: “Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” With McQuarrie co-writing alongside Erik Jendresen, and producing the film with Cruise himself, all signs point to an action-packed and emotionally driven sendoff, and they’re probably hiding another stunt that involves Cruise diving head-first into the Earth’s core to retrieve some sort of unobtanium.

Joining Cruise and Pegg in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning are Hayley Atwell as Grace, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis aka The White Widow, Esai Morales as Gabriel, Pom Klementieff as Paris, Mariela Garriga as Marie, Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, Holt McCallany as Bernstein, and Nick Offerman as Sydney. Also appearing are Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, and Frederick Schmidt.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning hits theaters July 2025.