Does Ilsa die in Mission Impossible?

Yes, the character of Ilsa Faust dies in the movie Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is the seventh movie in the Mission: Impossible film franchise, and is directed by Christopher McQuarrie. The movie stars Tom Cruise reprising his role as Ethan Hunt and continues the story of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) as they confront a new and elusive threat. In this part, Hunt and his team go up against "The Entity," an advanced AI system capable of manipulating global systems, creating a race-against-time scenario to shut it down before it gets into the wrong hands.

Apart from Tom Cruise, there are many other actors reprising their roles including Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. Apart from this, the movie also brings in new characters like Hayley Atwell as Grace and Esai Morales as the antagonist, Gabriel. The movie is said to be a 2 part story with its second part set to be released in 2025.

Does Ilsa die in Mission Impossible?

Yes, Ilsa dies during the final moments of the movie. Ethan and his team are stuck in a list of manipulations and tricks, all set up by the AI "The Entity" who has set an allegiance with Gabriel. Gabriel gives Ethan a tough choice of selecting between saving Ilsa Faust or Grace. With all of them being targeted in separate locations, Ethan and Ilsa fight hard to protect both Grace and themselves which results in a one-on-one duel between Ilsa and Gabriel. Even though Ilsa was a skilled combat specialist and hard hitter, Gabriel was able to overpower her, killing her in their battle.

Who played Ilsa Faust in Mission Impossible?

The character of Ilsa Faust was played by Rebecca Ferguson. The character was first introduced in the fifth movie of the series, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and has been a recurring character since. Throughout the franchise, Faust’s character is shown to be a fierce solo operative agent who initially operated as the intelligence operative employed by MI6. While her death in the franchise was quite saddening for all the fans, this was something that was bound to happen with Rebecca’s contract expired.

During an interview with WrapWomen’s “UnWrapped” podcast, Rebecca explained that she was offered to renew her contract for future movies but she herself decided to leave the franchise. She said, “To speak very clearly — because I know a lot of people are sad about it, I’m sad about it — I had filmed three films. My deal was done, and I love her beyond words. Beyond words. I think she’s the most awesome, fantastic character.” Explaining her concern about the character’s future, Ferguson said, “Ilsa was becoming a team player. And we all can want different things, but for me, Ilsa was rogue. Ilsa was naughty. Ilsa was unpredictable. There were a lot of characters coming in, not leaving enough space for what she had been.”

Apart from the character’s limitation going forward, Rebecca Ferguson also agreed that working in MI movies takes a lot of time from your plate, stating “unless you’re going to have a lot of screen time, that’s a lot of time sitting around waiting to film a huge movie that could take over a year to film.”

Also read: How many Mission Impossible movies are there?