Simon Pegg eyes return as lab geek for "M:I-4"

LOS ANGELELS  – Simon Pegg is being brought back into the Impossible Missions Force fold.

The actor is in negotiations to reprise his character of lab geek Benji Dunn for Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 4."

While not officially greenlighted, the movie is tracking for an early September start, and director Brad Bird has been reading actors this week. Tom Cruise is returning as agent Ethan Hunt in a plot whose details are being kept under a lid of secrecy. The move also would reunite Pegg with producer J.J. Abrams, who not only directed the third installment but also directed the actor in the rebooted "Star Trek," in which Pegg portrayed Starship engineer Scotty.

Pegg will be at Comic-Con in San Diego this week to showcase "Paul," a comedy about two geeks who encounter an alien while traveling across the U.S. to a comic convention.