There’s been umpteen rumours regarding a fourth ‘’Mission : Impossible’’ since, well… the moment they announced production on ‘’Mission : Impossible III’’ in 2006 .

At one stage (granted this was the British Press) Brad Pitt was rumoured to be taking over from Tom Cruise as the series’ star, and later, word (not sure how reliable that word was, but it was word none-the-less) was Paramount were considering rebooting the series – which probably shouldn’t surprise us, considering the success they’ve had with the “Star Trek” prequel.

Now, according to TV Guide magazine, “MI:3” director J.J Abrams (ironically the director of Paramount’s successful “Trek” relaunch) is back onboard the franchise for the fourth installment.

“I am incredibly honoured that Tom has invited me back as a producer on MI 4”, Abrams told the mag. “Tom and I have a really cool idea that we are pursuing”.

Now that doesn’t mean Cruise is returning as Ethan Hunt, it could simply mean Cruise will be producing alongside Abrams. For all we know, this “cool idea” could indeed be the oft-rumoured ‘prequel’ idea. We shall see.

You can view a scan of the TV Guide article in question at Spoiler TV.