Back in August, we told you that Ving Rhames (Soldiers of Fortune) would be returning to the Mission: Impossible franchise as Ethan Hunt’s tech expert, Luther Stickell in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. At the time, Rhames himself even confirmed he would be returning, during an interview on Lopez Tonight.

Rhames was recently out promoting his latest film, Death Race 2 and spoke with MovieWeb about his role in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The actor indicated that due to budget cuts, his appearance in the film isn’t really a sure thing:

“I may be doing something very small in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol but I will just say that the budget changed dramatically and I’ll leave it at that.”

When asked if that meant he would only have a cameo appearance, Rhames said,

“Hmm… Cha-ching could create that but it’s up to them.”

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is being directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux, Anil Kapoor, and (possibly) Ving Rhames.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is slated to hit theaters on December 16th, 2011.