Entertainment

Cumberbatch Lands Another Iconic Role

by Alanna Bennett

From petulant consulting detective, to dragon, to petulant prince. Guys, Benedict Cumberbatch is about to play Hamlet. Yes, you guessed it, in Hamlet. By Shakespeare. You know the one. The London stage holds all kinds of wonders — Catherine Tate and David Tennant in Much Ado About Nothing, Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus. The list goes on, and on, and on. Britain's got a lot of thespians, if you haven't heard.

Cumberbatch has always been one of those thespians, but like the people mentioned above he's been doing some film and television stuff for a while. Now he's making his return to the London stage, and he's confirmed to USA Today that his next move is as Hamlet, coming to London sometime in fall 2014.

Is it just me or does it seem some kind of right of passage for respected British actors to take on this role at some point in their careers?

It makes sense: It's a meaty, sexy, whiny roll, and one of the most iconic of all time. And as we've seen through Sherlock, who better to balance Hamlet's petulance with his role as the "hero" of the story?

And that's to say nothing of how thoroughly we want to see Benedict throw all those innuendos the way of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Especially after seeing his performance of R. Kelly on Jimmy Kimmel.