Jeremy Renner starred in two Mission: Impossible movies: 2011's Ghost Protocol and 2015's Rogue Nation. After that, his character - IMF agent William Brandt - disappeared from the long-running action series, though it turns out Renner was asked back for 2018's Fallout.
Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie wanted him on set for a week...so Brandt could die.
"I remember they tried to bring me over for a week so they could kill my character, and I was like, 'No, you don’t get to do that. You’re not going to drag me over there and just kill my character,' like get out of here!" Renner recently told Josh Horowitz. "If you’re going to do this and you’re going to use my character, you’re going to do it right."
"I yelled at [director Christopher McQuarrie]," the actor added with a laugh. "Dude, you’re not going to do this to me like that; you’re not going to do me wrong."
We'd eventually learn that Brandt had retired from fieldwork and, heading into the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning sequel, we're not necessarily expecting to see him reprise the role there.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Renner denied the long-held belief that he was being lined up to take over the franchise from Ethan Hunt actor Tom Cruise.
"No, it was always Tom’s show, that would be a Tom decision, if he ever wanted to change that narrative," he confirmed. "And as he’s maturing as an actor, he kinda wants to hold on, he’s doing ‘Top Gun’ again, right? He’s rebooting that, and let’s [lean] into the things in his life that he’s comfortable with now...the guy’s a beast and works harder than anyone I know."
Despite clashing with McQuarrie over plans to kill his character, Renner also recently revealed he would be open to starring in another Mission: Impossible movie (assuming Brandt gets to live, of course).
"I was supposed to do more with them," he said. "I love those guys. I love Tom so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot. It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn’t gonna work out then."
"Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen. I’d always jump into a ‘Mission: Impossible’ anytime and back into Brandt. It’s great."
We'll see what happens, but you can check out the full interview in the player below.