Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Benedict Cumberbatch has opened up about the possibility of returning for a third film in the Doctor Strange saga.
During an interview with the New Indian Express, Cumberbatch was asked rather pointedly whether there would be a third Doctor Strange film. "I hope so," he answered. "I would love to do another one. Doctor Strange is such a complex character and it feels like there is so much more to explore with him." Cumberbatch added, "He is such a brilliant character and I'm still having a wild time playing him."
Cumberbatch first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016's Doctor Strange. Based on the comic book hero of the same name, the film was the MCU's first deep dive into magic and mysticism, introducing whole new layers of its reality to audiences alongside its titular hero. Cumberbatch reprised the role for five subsequent MCU films, and has voiced the character across three episodes of 2021's What If...? animated series. He also portrayed multiple versions of Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Cumberbatch previously explained how playing more than one Doctor Strange was a sort of therapy for him. "This multiversal narrative structure or idea is like it is in our own lives. We play multiple roles," he said. "We have an incredible capacity and imaginative space in our subconscious to imagine ourselves into different circumstances in our dreamscape, and I feel that this is an extrapolation of that in the sense that he's meeting other versions who are essentially him, but they've made different choices in different circumstances with different outcomes. So, it's a great fuel from a very odd spectacular self-therapy."
When asked about the character's meteoric rise to prominence in the MCU, Cumberbatch replied with a sense of lingering surprise. "I'm still surprised at how prominent he has become," he explained. "I always knew there was amazing potential there because of all the aspects to the character, but I definitely had no idea that we would get to be at this point with the multiverse aspect when we started out."
This news comes as something as a change of form compared to earlier statements Cumberbatch had made regarding a potential break from acting. When commenting on balancing parenthood and his career, Cumberbatch said that it "gets very multiversal in real life as well." When asked if there was a variant of himself he would rather be, he answered, "I guess one that's less busy, maybe... I might be that very soon, which is nice -- taking a bit of a break."
At any rate, with the introduction of Charlize Theron's Clea in its final moments, Multiverse of Madness certainly seems to have left the door open for at least one more film starring Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange at some point down the road.
Source: New Indian Express