Yes, it's happening, Mission: Impossible IV is going to be made and Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams have the idea behind the film already. Not only that but Abrams has been invited back as a producer on the film, and at this early stage that means he could still be directing.

I'm very excited about this news, I love the fact that this series is still going and that it's commanding big actors and big directors, and while I'd love to see another one and Abrams did such a great job of the last one, I wonder if he's not the man for the job.

There's two ways this could go in my mind, there's the fact that J.J. Abrams made such a great Mission: Impossible III (Filmstalker review) that they should go ahead and use him to make the fourth, that would mean we would get another excellent action/adventure with some seriously high stakes and tension throughout, after all that film was really good, some great action. This way the film would be a success and it would make tons of cash and maybe go onto another film.

Or they could continue something that the series has already been doing to date, taking in a different director for each episode in the franchise. So far that's been a feature of the franchise, and I'm not talking just any director, but the best.

We had the powerful Brian DePalma opening, then John Woo took the torch, not so successfully, but still very well, and then J.J. Abrams took the reigns and gave us the action packed film that has sparked off a fourth.

Shouldn't we think about having another top of his game director for the next film and continue the franchise tradition of changing hands every film?

Of course there's the question of who, and I'll leave that one to you, because right now I can't think who that could be.

In the U.S. TV Guide through Spoiler TV and Film School Rejects we hear that Abrams is on board as producer for the next film.

"I am incredibly honored that Tom has invited me back as a producer for Mission Impossible 4...Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing."

So the franchise continues, and I don't believe there's anyone who can really say that it shouldn't, after all the franchise provides some superb action and that's very well suited to Tom Cruise and Abrams.

However I can't help but wonder if they could miss this opportunity to pass the flame onto someone else. Who could take over as director for the fourth?