Damn you, Benedict Cumberbatch! After what seemed like a pretty concrete denial regarding the rumors of his casting as a villain in STAR WARS: EPISODE VII, Cumberbatch had to go and stir the pot by putting a little disclaimer at the end of his comments.
Cumberbatch recently worked with J.J. Abrams on STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS and just dropped out of Guillermo Del Toro‘s CRIMSON PEAK for what many assumed would be a role in STAR WARS: EPISODE VII. Cumberbatch was announced as the star of the adaptation of the book THE LOST CITY OF Z, a film that had Brad Pitt set to star before. With SHERLOCK probably coming back for another season after the upcoming third, where would the in demand Brit find time to play a Jedi or a Sith?
According to comments made to The Telegraph, Cumberbatch isn’t sharing:
“Of course I’d love to do Star Wars and work with JJ Abrams again because we had such a good time on Star Trek,” he says. “But nobody has been cast and there are no offers out to anyone apart from the regulars who are returning. So that’s that rumour quashed.” Then he adds with a grin: “We’ll have to wait and see.”
The first part of the quote is identical to what he told Access Hollywood, but that final line could be just an aside that warrants no further analysis. But, this is the Internet where we over-analyze everything and everyone. It is impossible to judge those comments one way or the other, so I will continue to hold a glimmer of hope that Cumberbatch will appear in STAR WARS: EPISODE VII. If the promise of casting news does in fact hit soon, we will have a better idea of where things are going.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII is slated to open sometime in 2015.