Glen Powell, Tom Cruise Dave Benett/Getty Images; Paramount Pictures

Glen Powell might know how to fly planes, but he’s not quite ready to jump out of them.

Rumors have been swirling that Tom Cruise wants Powell, 36, to take over the Mission Impossible franchise, and ESPN’s Pat McAfee wanted answers. During the Tuesday, November 12 episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the host called Powell live on air.

“They just broke some mᴀssive news about you and your future, and we just wanted to say congratulations to you,” McAfee said. Powell replied, “Oh, what is it?”

McAfee went on to read the social media post claiming that Cruise, 62, wants Powell to take over the action movie franchise.

Related: Glen Powell Teases ‘Very Exciting’ Update About ‘Top Gun 3’

Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures/Paramount+ Glen Powell doesn’t have many details about what fans can expect from Top Gun 3 — yet. “There is going to be some fun stuff being announced soon but it was confidential to me,” Powell, 35, told Variety at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, January 21, while recalling his initial reaction […]

“My mom would never let me do that,” Powell stated, noting that it would be “a death trap.” The actor then started laughing — leaving his comments up for interpretation.

Let’s call Glen Powell…

We just wanted to say congratulations..

“It’s been one hell of a College Football season”@glenpowell #PMSLive https://t.co/zLV5DBwhw2 pic.twitter.com/nfowrYfy9N

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 12, 2024

Cruise has been playing Ethan Hunt since the first Mission Impossible film premiered in 1996. The eighth movie, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is set to hit theaters in May 2025.

Powell formed a close-knit relationship with Cruise after they worked together on 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. Both Powell and Cruise also set to return for an upcoming third Top Gun movie.

Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One’ Paramount Pictures

OK, we lied before in saying that Powell has never jumped out of a plane. But as the story goes, things almost turned tragic for the Anything But You star.

While filming Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise arranged for Powell to go skydiving, which ended up being his “second date” with then-girlfriend Gigi Paris.

“When I got there, I found out that Tom’s only request is that Glen cannot go skydiving with another person. He has to go solo the first time. So, I literally have to jump out of this plane by myself,” Powell recalled on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in November 2022. “But the worst part is that I couldn’t find my tab when I was falling.”

Powell said that it was the “nightmare” he expected.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

“But my first thought — which is not, like, a selfless thought — but my first thought was, ‘Oh, Tom just killed me. He’s going to feel so bad,’” the actor joked. “I was like, ‘God, he pushed me to do this thing.’ I’m looking for the tab and I’m like, ‘You’re not Tom Cruise. You’ll never be Tom Cruise. Why did you do this?’ And then I finally pulled it.”

Despite being “way below alтιтude,” Powell made it. Naturally he “went back up, did it again.”

Maybe Mission Impossible is the way to go.