Tom Cruise for Man From Uncle with Guy Ritchie?

Tom Cruise is reportedly in talks for a role in the reboot of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', set to be directed by Guy Ritchie.

According to Deadline, Cruise could slip into the role of Robert Vaughn's international spy Napoleon Solo previously vacated by George Clooney.

[Related story: Skyfall writers to pen Kojak reboot with Vin Diesel]

Meanwhile, Ritchie takes the place of Steven Soderbergh, who was attached to the project for some time before departing in 2011.

There's been little other news on the big-screen version of the 60s TV show since then, but now studio Warner Bros. appears to getting rolling on casting.

Soderbergh had initially considered Michael Fassbender or Joel Kinnaman for roles – while, according to The Playlist, the studio fancied Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Joel Edgerton - after the departure of Clooney.

No word yet on who might be in the running to play Illya Kuryakin, the role immortalised by David McCallum, the Russian agent working alongside Solo for the secret U.N.C.L.E. organisation.

The show aired from 1964 to 1968 over 105 episodes, with James Bond scribe Ian Fleming assisting in fleshing out the show concepts, and coming up with Solo's character.

Scott Z. Burns, who has worked on a number of projects with Soderbergh, had previously worked on a script for the movie version, basing the action on the real-life 'Palomares incident', where a B-52 bomber crashed in 1966, losing a hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean in the process.

It was eventually recovered after a two month search.

It's not known whether this concept for the plot is still in place.