Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast in Star Wars VII, according to a rumour by Film Chronicles.

Cumberbatch has expressed his love of the Star Wars in the past, and having recently worked with Episode VII director J.J. Abrams on Star Trek Into Darkness, it doesn’t seem to be out of the realms of possibility.

Speaking to Total Film earlier this year, Cumberbatch said: “I’ve already asked [director J.J. Abrams] if I can be a lightsaber and we’re in talks – about whirring sounds and the rates for the lights and everything [laughs].

“I thought, ‘Yeah, I grew up with them,’ and I just looked recently at when they were released and now I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t grow up with them, I was born with them.’ They were a huge part of my background, and my upbringing.

“I was much more connected to [Star Wars] as a kid, in the way that a lot of kids are because it’s immediate storytelling, very simple – a beautifully, outrageously simple narrative in a way – and a wonderful three-act melodrama, opera. And I loved them. I really, really loved those films and I always wanted to be Han Solo. Everything Harrison Ford did I just thought was the coolest thing ever – Raiders Of The Lost Ark was very much my upbringing as well.

[Update]

A spokesperson for Cumberbatch told the New York Daily News: “There is no truth to the rumour Benedict has been cast in Star Wars. I think the rumours are circling because JJ and Benedict have just recently had a wonderful time working together on Star Trek.”