Straight off of slicing, dicing, and dining as the delectably devious Hannibal Lecter on NBC’s fantastic series Hannibal, which unfortunately concludes this week, Mads Mikkelsen is already being courted to play another villain for Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE. Sources confirm that although no official offers are on the table, the Danish actor and former Bond nemesis is the studio’s top choice to challenge the sorcerer supreme.
The role that he’s being selected for is being kept hush-hush, but we’re hearing he’ll serve as a major antagonist, though not the only, to do battle with Benedict Cumberbatch’s mystical superhero.
Cumberbatch of course leads as Stephen Vincent Strange, a brilliant neurosurgeon who travels the world in search of enlightenment following an accident. Strange gets a good deal more than that when he’s chosen to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, the protector of Earth against magical threats. The film will open up a whole new world for the MCU, introducing the previously unexplored realm of mysticism and magic.
Tilda Swinton will play The Ancient One, a mentor to Strange who handpicks him for his destiny, while Chiwetel Ejiofor co-stars as Baron Mordo, another student of The Ancient One’s who eventually becomes a primary antagonist to Strange.
The studio has long sought to work with Mikkelsen, as he was formally the choice to play the villain Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, though had to drop out for Hannibal. That was a bullet missed, and luckily it’s looking like Mikkelsen will get another shot to play a Marvel baddie in, hopefully, a much better film.
Mikkelsen rounds out his role on Hannibal this week, though this reporter desperately hopes series creator Bryan Fuller finds a way to continue the incredibly cinematic series, which was far too good for the shoddy National Broadcasting Company in the first place.
Fans shouldn’t fret though, as Mikkelsen will next appear in a secretive high-profile role in Star Wars: Rogue One, which bows December 16th, 2016, just one month after Doctor Strange‘s November 4th debut.
And for those that want to see the actor play something other than a villain, he’ll also appear in the Danish surreal comedy Men & Chicken, which will premiere in September at TIFF.
Mikkelsen is repped by UTA and Art Management.
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Clark Allen | Associate Editor
This news was first reported by Variety.
