Both Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson have been dropped from the cast of Mission: Impossible III according to an interview with J. J. Abrams on About.com:

“The script was rewritten," said J.J. Abrams. "I'm a huge fan of each actor that they cast originally, but to have kept the actors when we are reinventing the story would have been an odd process, to say, ‘Write a script with these people in mind for characters that haven’t been written.’ It just felt like we had to start over with a clean slate.”

There seems to be no replacements chosen as yet, or rather we can't be told until the contracts are agreed. Strange since there were reports some time ago of the actresses entering training for the roles. Abrams does go on to say that the franchise is being taken in a different direction, perhaps that was why they moved on?

Beware of the interview British Terrestrial viewers of Alias as he gives away yet another major hint to the end of the series currently being aired. I'm getting a bit fed up of finding out what happens on that show before I see it...bit like what will happen after John has seen Star Wars tonight.

It's odd, I can't really say if I'm looking forward to this movie or not, again, the cheesy, smarmy, grin filled performances of Cruise may be back, but how will the story fall, and can Abrams really take the third movie in a new direction? Is it even worth it?