Acclaimed actor Benedict Cumberbatch is not keen on playing the formidable villain Thrawn from Star Wars Rebels in the upcoming Ahsoka TV show, and his reasoning is sound, honestly.
Speaking to Collider, it became clear that he isn't too tapped into Star Wars as a fandom, like you and I. "Grand Admiral Thrawn? Does he turn into Peter Cushing, or something?" replied Cumberbatch to the idea that lots of people would like to see him in the role of Thrawn. It'd be an inspired move to cast Cumberbatch as the character because he's known for stepping into the shoes of a tonne of highly intelligent and extremely intense personae. In Doctor Strange, you've got to agree that Stephen Strange isn't very personable at the start of his story - you could even argue that he's arrogant. He's also played a range of villains with varying motives like Ford in 12 Years A Slave, Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, Smaug in The Hobbit and ... Satan himself in Good Omens. Yeah.
Advert
So, the first sign that Cumberbatch isn't attached to any Star Wars projects is that he thought Thrawn became Moff Tarkin, the antagonist who is directing the Death Star in A New Hope and Rogue One. Cumberbatch committed one of the classic blunders, but he doubled down on his disinterest in adding to his pretty packed schedule. "That's a straight no from me, right now," answered the actor. "There's no way I want to be turned blue." Cumberbatch has a whopping seven movies on the go right now, including Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That's not counting the sheer number of hours and locations that he worked in 2018 and 2019 on movies like The Grinch, Avengers: Endgame, and 1917.
"I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just... it's not the right time in my life for that," he summarised. Fair enough. You only get to make those memories once, and if Cumberbatch would be much happier being painted blue by his young children to play Thomas the Tank Engine than being on a set at all hours of the day, then that's that. Anyway, recent rumours point to Lars Mikkelsen reprising his role as Thrawn in the live-action Ahsoka show, which we love the sound of. Aladdin actor Mena Massoud might have bagged the role of Ezra Bridger, too, but we'll keep you in the loop once that's been officially confirmed.
Featured Image Credit: Disney, Lucasfilm Animation