No word on if he’s playing an eccentric genius, sci-fi villain, or dragon. Because those are the only options...

Cinema Blend reports that Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes so brilliantly in the BBC series Sherlock, has talked his way into a part on The Simpsons, which is surely elementary casting.

Apparently all you have to do to get a guest role on The Simpsons is ask for it. Well, that and be awesome.

Hopefully he’s playing a genius dragon detective sorcerer sci-fi supervillain. That would be the obvious (and awesome) thing to do. Of course, since he just happened upon a role they’d already written, then presumably this wouldn’t be the case. Or maybe he actually did an Inception on the writers, to make them think they’d come up with it. After all, Sherlock Holmes is smart enough to do that…

But slightly more seriously, presumably he’ll play a brilliant detective who goes up against the evil masterminds Mr. Burns, Sideshow Bob, and Moriarty Ziff / Mori-Artie Ziff.

Sadly, he hasn’t been cast in the (unofficial) post-apocalyptic Simpsons musical. Benedict Cumberbatch singing in a post-apocalyptic future would be awesome.

Anyway, Benedict Cumberbatch is a very talented actor who now being cast in all the cool projects in recognition of this (or, according to J.J. Abrams, in recognition of his awesome name).

Next Joss Whedon will probably cast Benedict Cumberbatch in The Avengers 2, as another villain to spar with Loki. The whole movie can be him and Tom Hiddleston having an intelligent snarling contest, while the Avengers sit and watch and eat shawarma.

This is surely just the next step in Benedict Cumberbatch’s quest to be cast in every major franchise there is (Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Star Trek, and The Simpsons so far). He must be some kind of genius. Or supervillain.

Hopefully in Star Trek 2, he’ll sing Gilbert & Sullivan, like they do in the underrated Star Trek: Insurrection. (Because, whether he can actually sing or not, he's exactly the right actor for that sort of thing.) Speaking of singing supervillains, he should also be in Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog 2. Benedict Cumberbatch should play Sir Boasts-a-Lot, and have a boasting competition with Nathan Fillion's Captain Hammer. No doubt Captain Hammer would sing about how awesome he is, then Sir Boasts-a-Lot would break out the classical allusions. Captain Hammer would either go, “I don’t have time for your sophisticated references…”, or his brain would overload and he’d clutch his head, going, “No, *this* must be what pain feels like…”

Cinema Blend also says, “And it just so happens that he’s credited for two voice-roles in the second part of the upcoming Hobbit film There and Back Again.” So if you know which roles he's voicing, then that gives some vague indication of how the story might be split into two films. This also means that fans will have to wait until the second Hobbit film, in December 2013, to see (well, hear) Benedict Cumberbatch, and any reunion with his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo.

See also:

'Cumberbatch is not Khan' says Pegg; and Worf to return?

The Doctor Who Column: The Master a challenge for Cumberbatch?

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