How to Watch the Mission: Impossible Movies in Order

This page explains how to watch all the Mission: Impossible movies in order, and explains where the two classic TV series fit in the official timeline.

Due to the lack of prequels, flashbacks, and timeline weirdness present in other series such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, you can actually watch the Mission: Impossible movies in release order and all in-universe events will be chronologically happens sequentially.

Below are the official chronological and release viewing order for Mission: Impossible and links to where to watch it online.

Don’t have a specific streaming service? These movies can usually be rented or purchased from Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, or the Google Play store.

Planning a marathon? Watching the first seven movies takes just over 15 and a half hours, so be sure to stock up on healthy snacks and plan to take an hour or two off between movies.

All of the Mission: Impossible movies are connected to each other in various ways, but by far the most closely related are the fifth and sixth installments , Land of Secrets, and Fallout .

The seventh and eighth installments of "Dead Reckoning" and its unnamed sequel will also be closely linked. To give you an idea, their original titles were Dead Reckoning, Part 1 and Dead Reckoning, Part 2 .

Mission: Impossible 3 and Ghost Protocol (Part 4) also have a lot of connective tissue, but not to the same degree.

The first three entries are all fairly self-contained, making them a good choice if you're new to the series and only have time to watch one movie. It's worth noting, though, that each film has a distinct style that doesn't "match" the other as much as the later films.

Mission: Impossible feels a bit like a European spy movie. Set in Australia and directed by John Woo, M:I-2 features incredibly stylized and over-the-top action scenes. "M:I III" directed by JJ Abrams is the one of the three films that is closest in style to the later films in the series. It also introduced Ethan Hunt's love interest Julia Mead, who would figure prominently in future films.

Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames are the only actors to have appeared in all eight Mission: Impossible movies. Simon Pegg starred in six films in the series, making his debut in Mission: Impossible 3 . Henry Czerny, Michelle Monaghan, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Frederic Schmidt and Angela Bassett all appeared in three films.

While some of these actors appeared in consecutive movies, others were scattered throughout the series. For example, Henry Czerny originally appeared in the first Mission: Impossible movie and reprized his role more than twenty years later in the seventh and eighth installments. However, Michelle Monaghan appears in chapters three, four, and six.

Yes, the premise of the Mission: Impossible movie and the two original TV series are actually the same. The series' main character even appeared in the first film (albeit played by a different actor).

Both Mission: Impossible TV series are available to rent or watch on Paramount+.

The original Mission: Impossible TV series ran for seven seasons (171 episodes) from 1966 to 1973, with each episode focusing on a team of Impossible Mission Force (IMF) spies using their various skills and expertise to carry out a mission. A secret (yes, extremely difficult task). Difficulty) operation.

Mission: Impossible: The Gang (1969) is a Mission: Impossible film edited from two episodes of the original television series. It was only released in Australia and parts of Europe. It's generally considered a curiosity rather than a proper entry in the Mission: Impossible canon .

The second Mission: Impossible TV series only aired for two seasons (35 episodes) from 1988 to 1990. The story is set 15 years after the first series and tells the story of Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves) who returns from retirement to lead an IMF team composed of new characters.

The first official Mission: Impossible movie , Mission: Impossible (1996), takes place six years after the second TV series. It stars Jim Phelps (this time Jon Voight) and shows him eventually being replaced by Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise.

While the Mission: Impossible TV series does have continuity with the movies, you don't have to watch them to understand everything.

Mission: Impossible (1996) aims to provide viewers with a fresh start, without any prior knowledge of the series being required to understand its plot and characters. When Mission: Impossible 2 begins, the movie has no direct connection to the TV series and is very much its own thing.