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The Mission: Impossible film series has been one of the most successful non-rebooted action movie franchises in Hollywood history. Now nearing its final mission, many audience members actually don't know that the series didn't get its start on the big screen. Originally a TV series from back in the day, the Mission: Impossible movies are set in the same continuity as the show.
Despite this, there are very few ties to the old status quo after the first movie, with the main tie being the character Jim Phelps. Phelps was played in the film by Jon Voight, but he wasn't the first actor to portray him. This all stems from how the first Phelps disliked the movie's direction for the franchise, resulting in a recast and complete change of direction. Here's why Mission: Impossible didn't really bring back anyone from the original series.
Who Was Jim Phelps in the Original Mission: Impossible Series?
The original Mission: Impossible TV series debuted in the late '60s, and for the next several years, it was quite the hit. The show made a star out of Peter Graves with the character of Jim Phelps, who would engage in various impossible missions starting with the series' second season. Graves would play Phelps not only in the original series but also in the 1980s sequel series. As the director of the Impossible Missions Force, he would ramp up the danger level of the missions that his team would choose to accept.
Graves won a Golden Globe for the role, with his role as the leader of IMF and his own star power seemingly making him a shoo-in for the first Mission: Impossible movie. After all, the movie supposedly followed up on the continuity of the show, and Jim Phelps was even in it. Despite this, and the fact that he was still alive, Graves was not present in the first Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible, a movie which he had quite an issue with.
Peter Graves Felt Cruise's Mission: Impossible Was Disrespectful to the Show
The Jim Phelps seen in 1996's Mission: Impossible was played by Jon Voight, even though this was the same character once played by the then still alive Peter Graves. This wasn't simply a case of Hollywood recasting a character to instill some star power in a "reboot," either. When it came to the Brian De Palma blockbuster, Graves and another actor from the show were seemingly impossible to please, but for justifiable reasons.
In the 1996 Mission: Impossible movie, Phelps was revealed to now be a villain. His character had grown disillusioned with IMF's actions, namely after the Cold War, and sold them out to an arms dealer in defiance. This heel turn was likely shocking for those who had followed the shows, especially since Phelps was the only real link to the old canon. When asked about it, Peter Graves felt that making the traitor be Phelps was a bad idea. "I am sorry that they chose to call him Phelps. They could have solved that very easily by either having me in a scene in the very beginning, or reading a telegram from me saying, hey boys, I'm retired, gone to Hawaii. Thank you, good-bye, you take over now," Graves said.
Greg Morris, who had played the tech guru Barney Collier, was also displeased with how the movie turned out, actually leaving halfway into seeing it. Like Graves, Morris' issue was how the character of Jim Phelps, who was such a staunch part of the franchise, was being turned into a villain. Thus, neither of them had anything to do with the movie. Now, the name Jim Phelps is fairly forgotten, with Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt easily eclipsing any character from the old show. The next movie in the series is the beginning of the end for Cruise's character, and unlike with Jim Phelps, it's unlikely that his now-classic character will ever be recast.