Rebecca Ferguson 'exhausted' her Mission: Impossible character

Bang Showbiz on Oct 27, 2025

Published in Women

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Rebecca Ferguson thinks it's possible to "exhaust a character".

The 42-year-old actress played MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, in three Mission: Impossible films between 2015 and 2023, and Rebecca thinks her character was killed off at the right time, before Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in 2025.

The movie star told The Independent: "It was a phenomenal character, but you can exhaust a character."

Rebecca also explained that starring in the franchise was a huge commitment, requiring lots of time and preparation.

The actress - who starred in the films alongside Tom Cruise - said: "It came with a lot of very difficult things that people don't see.

"Two seconds of footage are a product of months of training, and sometimes whole scenes are thrown out of the window and you're told to pull together something different, because you're shooting something else tomorrow. You're constantly living on tiptoes, which is exciting, and I love Tom, but you get to a point...

"Who knows what they had planned for [Ilsa]? But there was a natural break at the end of a contract for three films, and I think that suited all of us."

Rebecca has followed a traditional route of stardom in Hollywood, but she's actually changed her approach in recent times.

She shared: "You're told you need to be able to be recognised, so make studio movies, build your [salary] quote, build your dream. It's the game, right?"

Rebecca has now changed her approach and she's actually drawn inspiration from Cillian Murphy, her co-star in the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie.

The actress explained: "He is so much more personable than me.

"He doesn't go through agents, he writes letters. He's old-school. And I was like, 'F***... if Cillian does it, then I'm gonna do it.' So I did it straight away, and it felt so good."

Rebecca has already enjoyed huge success in her career, starring in movies such as Mission: Impossible films: Rogue Nation, The Girl on the Train and A House of Dynamite.

But the acclaimed actress previously admitted that in spite of her fame and success, she continues to suffer from self-doubts.

Rebecca - who was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, before moving to the UK during her 20s - told ELLE Canada: "The 40 that we are today is not the 40 that my mom and the generation before her were.

"Yeah, I sometimes feel super stressed and I start wondering what the next chapter will be and [whether] I have done what I want to do."