LOS ANGELES: The constant queries about Michelle Monaghan's Julia in 'Mission: Impossible' series was one of the reasons of her return to the franchise's latest offering 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout'.
The character first featured in 'Mission: Impossible III' as the wife of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt.
She later made a brief appearance in 2011's 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'.
The character was, however, absent from the fifth film -- 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation'.
Director Christopher McQuarrie said Cruise wanted Julia to be a part of 'Fallout' as he was flooded with fan requests about the character's return.
"I ask him, 'What do you want from this story? What's one thing you want to do?' This time Tom said, 'I want to tie up the story of Julia. People are still asking me about Julia.' So, we began with that," McQuarrie said in a statement.
Cruise said keeping the high-on-emotion quotient of the film in mind, it was important to bring back Julia.
"Because this film is a culmination of all the Missions, we talked a lot about emotion, and you can't have that emotion without bringing Julia back. There's a yearning and a romantic notion that we play with. Michelle's work is exceptional, and she is just a wonderful person," Cruise said.
Monaghan said she was surprised that the makers were planning her character's return.
"I had no idea there were plans to bring Julia back and I was so excited. The character is wonderful, and their love story is something fans have latched onto. Ethan let her go to keep her safe and out of harm's way," she said.
"For me, that's the ultimate expression of love. In this story, you see them back together, but in a much different way," she added.
'Mission: Impossible - Fallout', the sixth film in the popular action-spy franchise, also features Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett.
The film, produced by Paramount Pictures and brought to India by Viacom18, will release on July 27 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.