How to convert/cast from a protocol to a class in swift?

Pretty simple, I'd have thought; I just want to check if a variable is a class and cast it to one if possible. For example: ``` var cellProtocol:MyTableViewCellProtocol? = nil cellProtocol = tableView.dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier(kCellIdentifier, forIndexPath: indexPath) as MyTableViewCell ``` how do I explicitly cast the cell to a UITableViewCell? Inheritance as follows: ``` class MyTableViewCell: UITableViewCell, MyTableViewCellProtocol { //.... } @objc protocol MyTableViewCellProtocol: class, NSObjectProtocol { func configureCell() } ``` That protocol definition was the result of me trying to solve this problem. My original one didn't have the @`objc` tag in it or the `class`-only identifier. I tried a few things to make the cast happen but it has not worked: ``` var cellToReturn = cellProtocol as UITableViewCell ``` This doesn't compile because `UITableViewCell` does not inherit explicitly from `MyTableViewCellProtocol`. ``` var cellToReturn = cellProtocol as AnyObject as UITableViewCell ``` This fails at runtime because `cellProtocol` fails to cast into `AnyObject`. I haven't been able to get the `unsafeBitCast` thing to work yet but that's another possibility I've been exploring. Just a note, that this DOES work in Obj-C. ``` id<MyTableViewCellProtocol> cellProtocol = cell; [cellProtocol configureCell]; UITableViewCell *cellCast = (UITableViewCell *)cellProtocol; ``` This gives me no errors and runs fine.