The Star Trek prequel rumor mill is buzzing again, unfortunately it’s not confirming any of the movie’s primary cast members. We still don’t know who will be playing Captain Kirk. But IGN claims that they have a line on who may show up in a cameo as Kirk’s predecessor, Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike. They claim J.J. Abrams is courting Tom Cruise.

It makes sense that Pike would be in the movie, if it really is a film about the first adventures of Kirk and Spock aboard the Enterprise, as everyone seems to think. Pike was the ship’s captain before Kirk, Spock served with him as his science officer, and in fact the original pilot for ‘Star Trek’ the TV show was shot with Jeffrey Hunter in command of Enterprise as Captain Christopher Pike. It was only after the show was picked up that Shatner was brought in to play Kirk.

It also makes sense to believe that Abrams might actually have a shot at getting Tom. After all, he just made a Mission: Impossible movie with him, and not just any MI movie but probably the only good one of the bunch. They have a pre-existing relationship, and with what a success MI3 was it would be easy to believe that Tom might be happy to work with Abrams again.

This isn’t the first time Tom Cruise’s name has come up in conjunction with Trek. Last fall a rumor floated around that he might be cast in one of the film’s primary roles. The rumor was squashed by a Cruise spokesman, but even if it wasn’t true then that doesn’t mean Abrams might not be going after him for an easy to shoot cameo now.