Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has secured a place in Hollywood superstardom after landing a role in Star Trek 2 as a villain.
The British actor - who has won a legion of fans for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in Steven Moffat's BBC adaptation of the detective tale and recently starred in big-budget films War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - has been tapped to play the villain in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2, reports Variety magazine.
If reports are true, Cumberbatch will be joining fellow Brit actors Noel Clarke, who's been cast as a "family man with a wife and young daughter" and Simon Pegg who's already entrenched as Scotty from the first film. Alice Eve, who appeared in Sex and The City 2, also signed to the film late last year.
It's not yet known which villain Cumberbatch will play, but it won't be his first evil role, after agreeing to voice greedy dragon Smaug for Peter Jackson's Hobbit films.
The film is expected to begin shooting this month ahead of a release on May 17, 2013.
Abrams recently revealed the film will receive post-conversion 3D, saying: "We're shooting on film, 2D, and then we'll do a good high-end conversion like the Harry Potter movie and all that. Luckily, with our release date now we have the months needed to do it right, because if you rush it, it never looks good."
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