Benedict Cumberbatch to replace Tom Hardy in Cary Fukunaga’s Blood on Snow

Tom Hardy was slated to star alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Cary Fukunaga’s Blood on Snow, but THR reports that Hardy has had to drop out due to scheduling issues and will be replaced by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Also joining the cast of the crime thriller are Eva Green (Dirty Angels), Emma Laird (The Brutalist), and Ben Mendelsohn (Andor). The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø and stars Taylor-Johnson as a “hitman/fixer named Olav who is hired by his mob boss to kill the man’s cheating wife. After Olav convinces himself he’s fallen in love with the wife and doesn’t kill her, it sets off a chain of events with tragic consequences that threaten a bloody mob war.” Nesbø co-wrote the script with Ben Powers.

It’s not known exactly who Cumberbatch will be playing, but THR says he’s believed to be playing a rival mob boss named the Fisherman.

Cumberbatch was recently seen in The Thing with Feathers, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The actor stars as a grieving father who, after the sudden death of his wife, starts to believe that a giant black crow is menacing him and his two sons. “Cumberbatch is incredible as the heartbroken father, perfectly evoking a man who cannot even fathom how to move on in his life,” said our own Chris Bumbray in his review. “It’s a movie that demands a certain emotional stamina, and after seeing a large selection of mentally wrenching films, The Thing With Feathers was almost too much of a downer to take in. Even still, on a technical level, the film is impeccable (even if it feels a little long at over 100 minutes), while Cumberbatch is at his very best.“

He’s also expected to reprise the role of Doctor Strange in Avengers: Doomsday, despite initially saying he wouldn’t appear. “I got that wrong, I am in the next one,” he said. “Don’t ever believe anything I say.” He also teased that Strange is “in a lot” of Avengers: Secret Wars. “He’s quite central to where things might go,” Cumberbatch said. Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. He’s also part of the star-studded cast of Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, which will hit theaters on May 30th.