Jeremy Renner will be Back for 'Mission: Impossible 5'

Remember when Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol was intended to be a "passing of the torch" from Tom Cruise to Jeremy Renner? Renner was red-hot at the time while Cruise was a downward swing, and the plan seemed to be that Cruise's IMF agent Ethan Hunt would either be killed off or retire, with Renner's William Brandt taking over. But when the film racked up nearly $700M and showed Cruise hadn't lost a step, that plan was never spoken of again. Even so, Renner has confirmed he will still be a part of the franchise with next year's Mission: Impossible 5.

Yahoo! TV got the word straight from the horse's mouth after asking Renner about the possibility of starring in True Detective season 2, because apparently that's replaced asking everyone about being in Star Wars: Episode VII.

Renner: "It's kind of unlikely. In fact, I'm kind of strapped time-wise doing Avengers 2, and Mission: Impossible 5 is rearing its head, and then they want to do another Bourne movie. It's unlikely I can find the time right now. And that's all right. It's just really high-class problems — pretty awesome to have. Even if I really wanted to do it, which I don't, I couldn't."

There's always the chance Paramount is keeping Renner around in case Cruise finally does throw in the towel, but that's certainly not now and it may not be for quite awhile. Mission: Impossible 5 is to open Christmas Day 2015 directed by Christopher McQuarrie.