Just cast Benedict Cumberbatch in the upcoming Star Wars films and he’ll be in all my favorite franchises. The actor is Sherlock Holmes in the BBC television series Sherlock, the voice of the dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit film trilogy, and the villain in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming sequel Star Trek Into Darkness. Now, Cumberbatch will be a part of a new BBC adaptation of the Neil Gaiman fantasy tale Neverwhere, and the first photo of Cumberbatch and his fellow cast members has been released via Radio Times.

Check out the photo here below.

Cumberbatch, who performs the role of The Angel Islington, is at far left in the cast photo along with (L to R) James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class, Wanted) as the main character, Richard Mayhew; Game Of Thrones star Natalie Dormer as Door; Sophie Okonedo (Doctor Who) as Hunter, and David Harewood (Homeland) as The Marquis de Carabas.

The new adaptation, which is being called an “audio film,” will also feature veteran actor Christopher Lee as Earl of Earl’s Court and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head as Mr Croup.

According to Radio Times, the six-part series will begin with an hour-long episode on Saturday, March 16th on BBC Radio 4 and will continue with five 30-minute installments on BBC Radio 4 Extra starting from Monday, March 18.

In the book, Richard Mayhew is a young man living in London with a dull job when he cames across an injured woman named Door, who he tries to help, but getting involved with her means leaving his life behind and entering the dangerous London Below, a magical alternate reality with angels, monsters, and other powerful beings, as well as fictional characters and people from other periods in history.

Neverwhere began as a TV miniseries created by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry that aired on BBC Two in 1996 (and is available now as a 15th Anniversary Edition DVD) and Gaiman later penned the novel, which was then adapted in 2005 into a 9-issue comic book miniseries by Mike Carey (Lucifer, Hellblazer) and Glenn Fabry (Preacher, The Authority) for DC/Vertigo Comics. The story also made its way to the stage several times, with a new production starting in Los Angeles this April. In 2007, David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) was tapped to direct a big-screen adaptation written from a 2000 script by Gaiman which had interest from the Henson Company and the Weinstein Company, but the project was eventually dropped.

[Source: Radio Times]