Not possible 30 Years After First Movie (Unique)

For veteran character actor Rolf Saxon, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the completion of a path he first walked practically 30 years in the past.

The actor, now 70, makes a return to the Mission: Not possible franchise in its eighth installment as William Donloe, a personality followers could bear in mind as CIA analyst William Donloe, whom Tom Cruise‘s Ethan Hunt practically comes into contact with within the authentic 1996 movie when he infiltrates CIA headquarters to steal an inventory of undercover belongings world wide. 

Whereas Saxon solely seems briefly within the authentic film, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie introduced the actor and his character again for The Last Reckoning in a pivotal function. 

“I obtained a cellphone name in January of ’22 saying a European movie firm was taken with seeing you for a component,” Saxon advised PEOPLE on the Could 18 New York Metropolis premiere of The Last Reckoning, when requested how he made his approach again to Mission: Not possible.

“I stated, ‘Okay, they legit?’ They stated, ‘Yeah, we expect so.’ So we arrange a gathering after which they stated it was Skydance, Tom Cruise and Mission: Not possible, and I believed, it is a buddy of mine. He is winding me up, he is taking part in the sport.”

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When Saxon really took the assembly over Zoom, he was nonetheless shocked to seek out out Cruise, 62, and McQuarrie, 56, really needed him to rejoin the franchise for the brand new film.

“I believed, ‘Oh, he is good. He is completed an important job,’ ” Saxon says of the recruitment course of. “I am in a T-shirt and shorts. Flip it on, there’s McQuarrie, and it is like, whoa. I had no thought.”

Within the new Mission: Not possible, Ethan Hunt’s staff — together with characters portrayed by Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis — meet Saxon’s character Donloe once they journey to St. Matthew Island within the Bering Sea in an effort to assist Ethan find the whereabouts of a sunken Russian submarine.

Donloe, it seems, was exiled by the CIA to work at its station on the distant island shortly after Ethan’s heist within the authentic Mission: Not possible.

“I used to be on that for about three weeks. So you recognize, we weren’t bosom buddies, however he is excellent on set,” Saxon says of working with Cruise three a long time in the past versus on the most recent film. “He provides 100%. To be again, I obtained a giant hug and a cheer as quickly as I walked on the set. So it is nice. It was great.”

Saxon joins Henry Czerny as one of many few forged members from the unique Mission: Not possible who rejoined the collection for its most up-to-date movies. (Czerny, 66, portrays Kittridge, the Not possible Mission Power’s director within the authentic film who returned in 2023’s Useless Reckoning, now as CIA director.)

“I at all times wish to work with the actors that I work with,” Cruise not too long ago advised PEOPLE, when requested about bringing again forged members from previous movies. “I actually have at all times had such nice experiences, and it is simply: ‘What’s the story?’ … that is what we’re at all times eager about: What’s the story? Story is king.”

Mission: Not possible – The Last Reckoning is in theaters now. For extra on Mission Not possible, together with unique interviews and behind-the-scenes photographs, PEOPLE’s special edition on the franchise is out now.