Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is the seventh movie in the beloved action series, and as with most long-running franchises, there are plenty of movies that audiences should watch first in order to get the most out of the story. The movie follows international spy Ethan Hunt as he’s dragged into another adventure of espionage and secrecy, with several characters from his past coming out of the shadows to help him. In order to fully experience the story and get the most out of the film’s many emotional beats, it’s important to watch the majority of Mission: Impossible’s earlier installments first.

Although most of the Mission: Impossible movies take place in different locations and follow different adventures, there are certain characters and subplots that run throughout the franchise - with many of them making a reappearance in Mission: Impossible’s grand finale. It’s definitely possible to enjoy the seventh entry without any prior knowledge of the franchise, since the action set pieces and high-stakes storytelling are enough to keep audiences on the edge of their seats, but Dead Reckoning Part One’s story is rooted in Mission: Impossible history that can only be enjoyed fully after seeing how far Ethan Hunt has come. Here are the Mission: Impossible installments fans should watch before Dead Reckoning – plus two they can skip.

Mission: Impossible

Brian de Palma’s original Mission: Impossible is probably the most important prerequisite for Dead Reckoning Part One, as it serves to introduce the audience to Ethan Hunt and does a great job of developing his character throughout the story. It follows one of Hunt’s earliest missions, which goes terribly wrong and causes the death of the rest of his team, leaving the spy to prove his innocence and clear his name as a potential traitor to his country. Both in its style and its themes, Mission: Impossible is very different from its sequels, but it’s the place where this entire story began.

Mission: Impossible is much less of an action showcase and more of an intense thriller, with Hunt not even firing a gun in the movie. It doesn’t have the blockbuster spectacle that make its sequels so beloved, but the original is great for other reasons - it’s a well-paced thriller that focuses on character development and well-written mysteries rather than including as much action as possible, and that makes it a perfect place to jump into this story and get the audience on board with the world of Ethan Hunt.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the fourth movie in the franchise, and it’s where this story makes a huge departure from the movies that came before it. The most notable difference between Ghost Protocol and the first three installments is the tone - this movie is bigger, bolder, and more colorful than its predecessors, understanding that Mission: Impossible works best when it’s totally unbelievable. Although the simpler, more contained stories of the first and third movies worked very well, there’s something about Brad Bird’s extravagant vision that completely transformed the Mission: Impossible franchise in the best way.

Ghost Protocol has become famous for its extended set piece on the side of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and that’s just one of the examples of how this movie goes bigger and better than the others. It’s crucial to watch Ghost Protocol before Dead Reckoning, not just because of the way it sets up Hunt’s future conflicts with the government, but because of how it introduces this new style of filmmaking that’s stayed consistent throughout the movie’s sequels. It’s so different from the original that jumping straight into Dead Reckoning after that would almost feel like a different series - Ghost Protocol is a perfect transition point.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is where the Mission: Impossible decided to adopt a more overarching narrative, introducing characters and themes that continued to play a role in the story throughout its sequels. The most important of these is Rebecca Ferguson’s Isla Faust, who enters the story as a kind of anti-hero but later becomes one of Hunt’s closest allies and almost adopts the role of the franchise’s second protagonist. Rogue Nation also introduces Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane, one of Mission: Impossible’s best villains thanks to the character’s strategic thinking and heightened intelligence. These characters not only make Rogue Nation a great sequel but also play large roles in future movies.

Rogue Nation is also important since it’s the first Mission: Impossible movie led by Christopher McQuarrie - the director often credited with revitalizing the franchise and driving it into a new age. Much like Bird in Ghost Protocol, McQuarrie truly understands that it’s the big-budget spectacles and grand-scale storytelling that makes Mission: Impossible so successful, and his stories really capitalize on this. He essentially uses Rogue Nation as a blank canvas to set up the future of the sequels, which is incredibly fun to watch and gives him complete creative control over this story.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is widely considered to be the best Mission: Impossible movie, and it’s also crucial viewing before jumping into Dead Reckoning Part One. McQuarrie’s story follows Hunt on his most dangerous mission yet, enlisting the help of several old allies and discovering plenty of new s in his race to prevent a catastrophic terrorist attack that could destroy the face of the planet. Fallout takes the idea of high stakes to its most extreme, filled with blood-pumping action and unbelievable stunts that make this Mission: Impossible’s boldest entry.

Fallout also introduces Vanessa Kirby’s mysterious White Widow, who only appears briefly in the movie - but plays a large role in Dead Reckoning. The movie also gives plenty of character development to characters such as Faust and Lane, while explaining the absence of Jeremy Renner’s William Brandt. In spite of its focus on action and visuals, Fallout also has some in-depth character work that should be watched in order to understand these people’s importance when their time comes around in Dead Reckoning.

Why You Can Skip Mission: Impossible 2 & 3 Before Dead Reckoning

The reason that Mission: Impossible 2 & 3 aren’t considered essential viewing for Dead Reckoning is simply because their stories are mostly disconnected from the overall narrative of the franchise. It wasn’t until Ghost Protocol that Mission: Impossible started toying with the idea of interconnected stories and recurring side characters, so the first three installments don’t hold much importance. It’s crucial to watch Mission: Impossible in order to understand who Ethan Hunt and his friends are (and to recognize the return of Agent Kittridge in Dead Reckoning), but its two immediate sequels don’t have any narrative connection to those later entries in the franchise.