Benedict Cumberbatch Rules out Dr. Who & Star Wars: Episode VII Roles

[Johnny Novgorod]

This is only good news for me. Maybe I've watched the wrong things, but I've yet to see anything to suggest he has any sort of range.

Kind of like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford?

 

[debtcollector]

Kind of like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford?

Zing! Point taken. I guess Bendy would fit in, more or less, but....I dunno. Star Wars doesn't usually cast really huge names in for its leading characters. I think I'd rather see a few unknowns than be distracted by a bunch of familiar faces.

Which is part of why Episode VII worries me, since they seem to be determined to cameo every surviving actor from the original trilogy, regardless of how capable they still are.

 

[LittleWings]

Well of course he wont be in Dr. Who. They only made two films and I'm pretty sure Peter Cushing is dead.

Okay I'll go back to the pedant corner now. Sorry

 

[Something Amyss]

Too bad. I just finished watching Sherlock recently and I think he'd have made an interesting Doctor.

I think he'd make a better Master. I especially would have loved to have seen that terrifying, magnificent bastard as The Master as a foil to Matt Smith's child-like incarnation of the Time Lord. Then again, I'm one of the six people who liked the Master as played by John Simm. Simm's version being batshit crazy was a nice counter to the gravity of Tennant's superwoobie.

I wouldn't count this as gospel, though. I mean, I'm not counting on it, but this sort of "never" statement seems to frequently be untrue. Then again, it seems like his schedule is full until 2052, so maybe it's true.

really? because i never who he was until Into Darkness...

Oh yeah, Benevolent Cumberbund had a pretty large following already. Him being named as the villain in Into Darkness is one of the bits that got my attention.

I'm all for MoAr Cumberbatch, but he can't be ALL the peoples.

You take that back!

Plus, our new Doctor has not even made his first full appearance yet so it really is a bit soon to be talking about who would play him next.

If people don't like Capaldi (in the role), waiting until he actually has his own episode is merely a formality. Hell, people didn't even wait for 10 to regenerate to start coming up with reasons why 11 was horrible.

Well of course he wont be in Dr. Who. They only made two films and I'm pretty sure Peter Cushing is dead.

Okay I'll go back to the pedant corner now. Sorry

It'll be a grimdark gritty reboot.

 

[grey_space]

That's a shame. Benedict Cumberbatch would have made a great Grand Admiral Thrawn.

And yes, I know Thrawn was most relevant five years after Episode VI and that Episode VII will take place thirty years after that movie, but I also know that Disney is not going to stick to the established timeline of the expanded universe. That's not a gripe, it's just a fact.

Don't believe me? Three words: Death Star conception.

That's a really good idea. Cumberbatch would match the whole intelligent, elegant ruthlessness of the character really well.

I would prefer Fassbender for Karrde actually. For reasons above.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Kind of like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford?

Zing! Point taken. I guess Bendy would fit in, more or less, but....I dunno. Star Wars doesn't usually cast really huge names in for its leading characters. I think I'd rather see a few unknowns than be distracted by a bunch of familiar faces.

Which is part of why Episode VII worries me, since they seem to be determined to cameo every surviving actor from the original trilogy, regardless of how capable they still are.

I don't know, the original movie had Alec Guiness and Peter Cushing in it... back then they were considered huge stars. And the prequels had Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Lee in them - also pretty big stars. Again, I don't really see Benedict as a "Star Wars guy" but that's not to say they wouldn't cast someone on charm and name alone.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

Cool, can we go back to speculating on him being Spike Spiegel because of that one time he was photoshopped as him?

What? Google it.

 

[DoctorM]

To hell withj him playing the Doctor, after the great voice work he did with Smaug and Sauron I want him to play the Master.

Absolutely and Martin Freeman should be the next Doctor.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

That's a shame. Benedict Cumberbatch would have made a great Grand Admiral Thrawn.

And yes, I know Thrawn was most relevant five years after Episode VI and that Episode VII will take place thirty years after that movie, but I also know that Disney is not going to stick to the established timeline of the expanded universe. That's not a gripe, it's just a fact.

Don't believe me? Three words: Death Star conception.

You mean like the fifty thousand different Death Star conceptions that were created both before and after Attack of the Clones?

 

[Therumancer]

It might be me, but I suspect Benedict Cumberbatch might be trying to distance himself from "Fandom" and move on to other more "serious" acting roles, especially now that his name is out there. I can see him wanting to do "Star Wars" because there would be a sort of odd prestige in that as a capper to his roles in fandom, but with being turned down for that, it seems like he's pretty much dismissed association with or interest in any other science fiction or fantasy property suggested, including very likely ones. I mean he could probably get a two season run on "Doctor Who" easily, which would keep him working, and is a job that most actors would give their left arm for. Whether he'll come back to this stuff or not, I suspect we'll see him go through a period where he'll really be trying to attach himself exclusively to "serious" dramatic roles once his current batch of projects is concluded.

I do hope I'm wrong about that though, he'd be good for a lot of things throughout the collective fanverses, I hope he doesn't forget what made him before he gets too old.

Also for the record, if I was going to cast Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Wars it would be as a crime lord. I get tired of almost every Crime Lord being a Hutt. I think they had a human one in one of the old Star Wars real time strategy games. I'd probably want to use him in a role like that, sort of an odd combination of Holmes' nemesis Moriarty and the Khan role he already pulled off.

Also while it would never happen his roles as Sherlock and Khan also made me think that he might be able to pull off something like a "Warhammer 40k" Inquisitor if anyone ever decided to do a 40k movie. He isn't heavyset enough to be perfect, but I could almost see him playing "Inquisitor Eisenhorn" if someone did a movie or mini-series based on the series. Even more perfectly I think his style of face could pass well as Colonel Commissar Ibraim Gaunt from "Gaunt's Ghosts" (though that would be harder to do a series around due to the scope).

 

[Jeroenr]

Too bad. I just finished watching Sherlock recently and I think he'd have made an interesting Doctor.

I can agree with that, but I would prefer more Sherlock. I like Him a lot, and I am happy to not get over-saturated.
I am also glad to hear that SOMEBODY involved with Trek and Wars understands that what these two franchised DON"T need is to share the same actors as well as the same Director. J.J. loves star wars, great. He already made two good star wars movies with Kirk and Spock, let him have the real Wars Universe, more power to him.

If we start getting the same actors though, you can kiss one of the franchises goodbye. I'd bet it's Trek, because Disney can pump enough money into Star Wars to feed Africa for a decade. Maybe we can get a feature length Sherlock Holmes movie with Sherlock Holmes in it, instead of "The Adventures of Tony Stark in the 19th Century," complete with machine-pistols and explosions. Those were fun movies, but Sherlock Holmes they were NOT.

I'm all for MoAr Cumberbatch, but he can't be ALL the peoples.

i would go as far as calling the star-trek movies decent, they were good sci/fi movies but decent star-trek movies.
I see what your aiming at with calling them starwar movies, and agree.(as a TREK fan even)
And why he shouldn't be in the upcomming SW movies, people have trouble enough telling the TREK from the WARS as it is.


And Cumberbatch as "the doctor"?
I do think he could be a briljant Doctor, but it will be Sherlock with a T.A.R.D.I.S..
The doctor already is a bit of space/time sherlock, especially Matt Smith.
That probably has a lot to do with Steven Moffat.

And lets give the new Doctor some time to develop before mentaly replacing him already.