Anyone who's seen all three of the "Infernal Affairs" flicks had to know this was coming: Word is that we'll probably be getting a sequel to "The Departed," and perhaps even a prequel as well!

It's been buzzed about for a few weeks, but Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg recently had a chat with Empire Magazine, and here's what he had to say: "They’re talking about bringing in De Niro to play a senator or a congressman ... You know, the corruption obviously going deeper and higher up the ranks — reaching up the political chain. So it’ll be fun. And if it’s a success, they’re gonna do a prequel and bring everyone back…make it a trilogy."

So while director Martin Scorsese is not (yet) attached to the project, it seems that screenwriter William Monahan is presently hard at work on sequel number one. Mr. Wahlberg seems to think things are moving forward; he claims the sequel could begin production by late this year. If so, cool.

No word yet on whether "Departed 2" will follow along with what went down in "Infernal Affairs 2," but I guess that's part of the reason we'll want to go see it.