In news that seems as much about Paramount trying to allay rumours that the planned Mission: Impossible IV is in trouble, THR reports that Simon Pegg is in talks to return to the franchise as lab geek Benji Dunn, who he first played in the third instalment.
However the message it feels Paramount really wants to get out is that ‘While not officially greenlighted, the movie is tracking for an early September start, and [director Brad] Bird has been reading actors this week.’ That’s as much to counter rumours that there were major problems behind-the-scenes on the film, as in the last week there have been numerous reports that due to the poor box office performance of Cruise’s Knight & Day, Paramount was calling for the Mission: Impossible IV script to be reworked to include a new, younger agent that Cruise’s character is training up.
The studio has denied it, but when the movie was first announced it wasn’t thought Cruise would star and it would be the beginning of a new era for the franchise, so it’s not difficult to imagine the studio is thinking about what’s going to happen beyond part four, and introducing a new agent would certainly help with that.
The film will reunite Pegg with JJ Abrams, who directed him in Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, and will produce M:I IV. The actor will also be at ComicCon this week, showing off his new movie with Nick Frost, Paul.