Jeremy Renner may be up for another mission. In an interview with Collider, the 53-year-old actor revealed why he didn’t return to his Mission: Impossible role as William Brandt after appearing in the franchise’s Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation movies.
“I had to leave that. I was supposed to do more with them. I love those guys,” Renner said of star Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie. “I love Tom so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot.”
As for why he didn’t reprise his role in Fallout and Dead Reckoning, Renner explained, “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.”
Renner, who shares 11-year-old Ava with his ex, Sonni Pacheco, isn’t ruling out a future appearance, though. The franchise is moving forward with Mission: Impossible 8 due out next year.
“Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen,” he said. “I’d always jump into a Mission: Impossible anytime and back into Brandt. It’s great.”
Jeremy Renner and Tom Cruise attend the ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ U.S. premiere after-party in 2011. – Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
For now, Renner is busy starring as Mike McLusky on Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown. It’s a role he was unsure he’d ever get to play again after his terrifying snowplow accident in January 2023. Nevertheless, Renner set off on a journey to recovery and returned to the show’s set in January 2024.
In a recent interview with ET, though, Renner admitted that he feared he wouldn’t be able to do “basic duties” on set following his injury.
“It was something unlike I really felt before, I was in a place of self-doubt,” the Hawkeye star said. “… It’s 12 hours, 14 hours on a set. Whether you’re doing stunts or not, it’s exhausting.”
With the help of the cast and crew, Renner was able to “figure it out” and even insert some of his real-life emotion into his portrayal of his character.
“I inserted a lot of what I was feeling into that moment,” Renner said, adding that Mike has “a bit more delicacy to him this season because of [being] forced to be informed by my condition.”
Season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown — which also stars Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dylan, Emma Laird and Kyle Chandler — will hit Paramount+ on June 2.
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