'Star Wars 7' News: Benedict Cumberbatch Cast as Force-Using Sith Lord Villain in J.J. Abrams' 2015 'Episode VII' Movie? Too Close to 'Star Trek Into Darkness'?
There have been some new developments around the rumor saying Benedict Cumberbatch could team up with J.J. Abrams once again for the sci-fi franchise reboot, Star Wars: Episode VII. The baritone-voiced actor and the acclaimed director previously worked together on this year's Star Trek Into Darkness. Now reports are claiming Abrams' favorite villainous actor could be yielding a lightsaber for the dark side in2015.
This casting report has yet to be confirmed, though Cumberbatch's recent departure from Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak adds fuel to the Star Wars fire. Film Chronicles was the first to report the story and now plenty of other websites have been writing about the news as well.
The update to this claim is that Cumberbatch is reportedly up for a substantial role in the new trilogy and will be around for all three new films. In fact, sources say that he could be a lightsaber-wielding force user. In other words, Cumberbatch might be the new Sith lord!
But didn't he just play one of the most iconic Star Trek villains earlier this year in Star Trek Into Darkness? Is it too soon for him to take on another role like that? Is it too soon to work with Abrams again? Let us know what you think of all of this in the comments section!
During an interview held back in May to promote Star Trek Into Darkness, Cumberbatch spoke at length about his desire to star in 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII.
"I've already asked [J.J. Abrams] if I can be a lightsaber and we're in talks - about whirring sounds and the rates for the lights and everything," Cumberbatch joked.
He added: "I was much more connected to [Star Wars] as a kid, in the way that a lot of kids are because it's immediate storytelling, very simple - a beautifully, outrageously simple narrative in a way - and a wonderful three-act melodrama, opera. And I loved them. I really, really loved those films and I always wanted to be Han Solo ... I was an out-and-out kid running around with a lightsaber wanting to fly the Millennium Falcon ..."