Mission: Impossible 5 Updates: Is Alec Baldwin's 'Rogue Nation' Character Secretly a Villain? Tom Cruise Talks Death-Defying Stunts

By Adam Bellotto

May 22 2015, 06:15 AM EDT

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is barely a month away from theaters- the film releases in July- and yet there's one thing we're not so clear on for Ethan Hunt's fifth impossible mission. Do we have a singular villain?

There's been plenty of talk about the titular Rogue Nation, the anti-IMF force composed entirely of rogue agents, dead set on taking down Cruise and all his international superspy buddies. But there's no Big Bad, so to speak. Which brings up a potential rumor... could Alex Baldwin be the film's real villain?

Baldwin's character, the head of the CIA, is already no hero. He's intent on dismantling the IMF, and doesn't seem that polite about it. But it's possible that his CIA cover is a smokescreen, and he's actually been underground with the rogue nation (otherwise known as the Syndicate) this whole time. Movies have pulled that stunt before- especially when there's a very well-known actor like Baldwin relegated into a smaller side role. It ends up that the not-super-significant side character has a much bigger part to play (and a much more involved role for a hot name like Baldwin). Captain America: The Winter Soldier pulled that very stunt last spring.

However, Tom Cruise has also spoken about a potential villain in the film, played by British actor Sean Harris.

"Sean Harris is incredibly enigmatic and very powerful on screen. He's as powerful a villain as we've had in Mission: Impossible. It really is a chess match between him and Ethan. The guy is very charming, intelligent, but lethal. It's delicious."

Which one will become our real Big Bad? Cruise is also talking up the film's stunts, especially a nasty one on a motorcycle. "It was physically the most grueling sequence. We're going at very high speed with Simon Pegg as my passenger, drifting through very narrow streets with cameras on [the bike]," said Cruise. "I'm not wearing a helmet or pads, and at one point I'm highsiding a guy. It was hairy, actually." We'll find out for sure when Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation hits theaters on July 31, 2015.