So this latest Star Wars rumor might seem like the biggest no-brainer ever, but IGN Middle East reports that Simon Pegg has a role in Star Wars: Episode VII, and in fact already filmed his part in Abu Dhabi, before production there wrapped recently.

So why is this a no-brainer? First off, Pegg is a huge Star Wars fan, and has incorporated his love of Star Wars into his projects going back as far as his television series Spaced. Of course, he’s used his platform to completely trash the prequels, especially The Phantom Menace, but it’s really hard to hold that against him. (clearly Lucasfilm doesn’t, based on hiring him for Clone Wars.) Second, Simon Pegg is good friends with director JJ Abrams, who directed him in Mission Impossible III as and cast him as Scotty in Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Pegg was asked last year if he’d appear in Episode VII, and said “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to be in it, to be honest. I think J.J. should cast new faces with no stunt casting.” Of course, he could have simply said that before be got offered a part, and that was just a fancy way of saying “nobody has asked me yet.”

If this rumor turns out to be true, then this would be Simon Pegg’s second time getting to play a part in the Star Wars universe; back in 2012, Pegg played the part of Bounty Hunter Dengar (who some might remember from his cameo in The Empire Strikes Back, or his Kenner action figure from the eighties) in the Clone Wars animated series. It would be pretty cool if he reprised the role for a cameo appearance in the streets of Mos Eisley on Tatooine. He’d be the first Star Wars actor to make his debut in an animated version before playing the same part in live-action, and that alone would make it pretty cool.