Jungle Book: Origins, Warner Bros.’ adaptation Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, has just cast its first voice actor: Benedict Cumberbatch.

Benedict Cumberbatch will voice the tiger named Shere Khan in Warner Bros.’ Jungle Book: Origins. Shere Khan is the man-eating tiger who is the villain of Kipling’s classic tale, which tells the story of a boy being raised by animals. Cumberbatch will finally be able to admit he’s playing Khan.

Cumberbatch is the first actor to join the project.

Unlike his role as the dragon Smaug in the Hobbit movies, Cumberbatch will only provide Shere Khan’s voice. As of now, Cumberbatch will not do motion capture acting.

Whether or not Cumberbatch ends up doing his own motion capture work, it’s likely that the film will feature lots of it. The film is being directed by motion capture king Andy Serkis, known of course for his motion capture work in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Planet of the Apes, and King Kong, among others. Serkis has served as second unit director on the Hobbit trilogy and Jungle Book: Origins will be his directorial debut.

Jungle Book: Origins, releasing October 21, 2016, is just one big screen version of the classic tale in the works. Disney has The Jungle Book coming October 9, 2015 from Iron Man director Jon Favreau.

The Jungle Book will star Idris Elba as Shere Khan, the role Cumberbatch will voice in Warner Bros.’ version. Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito, Ben Kingsley, and Neel Sethi are also in the cast of The Jungle Book.

What do you think of Benedict Cumberbatch joining ‘Jungle Book: Origins’?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter