Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly finding his way into nearly every movie lately, but he curiously had to drop out of one project and picked a different one to work on. Was the new project star Wars: Episode VII? According to a report, yes.
Cumberbatch, who played Kahn in Star Trek Into Darkness, was linked to the project in a report from Film Chronicles. The site notes that casting notes have called for younger actors to play the roles of the Skywalker and Solo children, which would count the 37-year-old actor out for those roles. So it is unknown what role Cumberbatch would take if this happens, taking into consideration the fact that we have no idea what the plot is.
As BleedingCool has pointed out, Film Chronicles’ report comes after The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Cumberbatch has dropped out of Crimson Peak, which would have teamed him with Guillermo Del Toro. THR’s sources claimed that he jumped that ship in order to take on another project, but no further details were given.
While the Sherlock star is a fine actor, it will be interesting to see if Abrams uses him as a villain twice in a row. It’s still complete speculation at this point, as long as Lucasfilm and Disney keep quiet.
Production on Star Wars: Episode VII is set to start in January and the film will be out in 2015.
Cumberbatch stars in three films this fall - all Oscar contenders: The Fifth Estate, 12 Years A Slave and August: Osage County.
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