Benedict Cumberbatch Guest Stars on The Simpsons
Sad news: His appearance will not be as the world’s only consulting detective, despite the fact that I couldn’t resist using this amazing Sherlock fan art as the main image on this post. Yes, I know, I was pretty upset about this revelation too. I can only imagine how his particular brand of Sherlock Holmes would feel about the residents of Springfield (What’s it like in your funny little brains/it must be so boring?)
Anyway, because we all need to take what bits of Cumberbatch we can get as we suffer through our own personal versions of the Great Hiatus, it’s likely that we’re all fine with this. And what better sign that an actor we all love has really hit it big than the chance to do The Simpsons? (Everyone, it would seem, has done a guest bit on this show.) Go on, you know you want to read more.
Cumberbatch’s episode, the Valentine’s Day-themed “Love is a Many Splintered Thing,” has officially been confirmed for this weekend, and he’ll apparently be playing two different parts: “The Prime Minister” and (wait for it….) Alan Rickman. If you’ve ever seen a clip of his Rickman impersonation, well, I assume you are suitably over the moon about this. (If you haven’t, stop whatever you are doing and watch this.)
The best part of this story is that Cumberbatch stumbled upon this voice bit by utter accident. The actor told Instyle magazine that he happened to be at a meeting in the same place that The Simpsons is recorded, heard there was a voice part going and just popped in and asked if he could do it. Part of the magic of being Benedict Cumberbatch is apparently that things like that just happen to you. And part of the magic of being a Sherlock fan starving for anything during our long national nightmare of waiting, means you tune in to The Simpsons for the first time in the better part of a decade, apparently.
ETA: Of course, the day after I write this post, look what pops up online? Sherlock fandom is nothing if not dedicated, I see!
