Benedict Cumberbatch says he isn’t particularly interested in playing Thrawn

Any fan theorists who were hoping for Benedict Cumberbatch to be cast as a live-action Grand Admiral Thrawn can probably move on now. The actor expressed that the character isn’t necessarily one he wants to tackle right now, and we apologize in advance to fans (or just me, in particular) who were hoping to see the Doctor Strange actor enter the Star Wars universe via the villainous blue character.

Speaking to Collider, interviewer Steve Weintraub addressed the elephant in the Star Wars room about Cumberbatch possibly being cast as a live-action version of the character.

Thrawn was initially part of the Legends series of books but was later revived in the Disney canon via Star Wars Rebels and a new book series. But ever since Ahsoka Tano named-dropped Thrawn in The Mandalorian season 2 — (and even before that) — fans have been going wild wondering who would play a live-action version of the character, and Cumberbatch was at the top of many people’s list.

When first asked about the character, Cumberbatch was a little confused as to who the interviewer was talking about. “Grand Admiral Thrawn? Does he turn into Peter Cushing or something?” the actor asked.

Will Benedict Cumberbatch play Thrawn?

After some explanation, i.e. revealing that the character is blue, it was a hard pass for the actor. He explained:

"That’s a straight no from me, right now. There’s no way I want to be turned blue. I turned the air blue, very recently. No no, seriously, I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just… it’s not the right time in my life for that."

So, unfortunately, it looks like Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t going to be in the running to play Grand Admiral Thrawn. This would have made for an uber-impressive resume for the actor, adding Star Wars to the other mega-franchises he’s been in, including the MCU and Star Trek. But it’s definitely understandable if he doesn’t have time to take another major role like this.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to come out in 2022, which means he definitely would be on a tight schedule. And on top of that, it hasn’t yet been clarified what project Thrawn would make his debut on. Some say that he could appear in season 3 of The Mandalorian. Others think he could appear in the Ahsoka standalone series. And there’s even been a recent rumor that he and Ezra Bridger are getting their own series altogether.

Whatever the case, it does seem like a live-action Thrwan will be on the table at some point in the near future. We’ll just have to wait!

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