Paula Patton has signed on to star in Mission: Impossible 4, the sequel that Paramount will not be calling Mission: Impossible 4. Patton won the role shortly after Jeremy Renner was picked to appear in the ongoing franchise as a fellow young agent.

M:I Goes Fourth is aimed to be a sort of reboot, with Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec's script seeing Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt pass the baton down to Patton and friends. Directed by Brad Bird, and produced by JJ Abrams, the $140m sequel will involve Cruise taking on another somewhat unfeasible task with a team that also includes Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.

You will have last seen Patton in Precious, where she played an ultra-thin lesbian role model teacher - a natural pre-cursor for this part. You will have also seen her in Deja Vu and Mirrors, if you like to watch bad movies.

Patton will presumably play Cruise's love interest in the movie, which begs the question: what happened to that wife he was so keen about last time round?

The Impossible Mission: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire starts shooting this autumn.