Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the cast of The Jungle Book: Origins.
The 38-year-old actor will voice the villainous Shere Khan in the live-action adaptation. Shere Khan is a Royal Bengal tiger and protagonist Mowgli's sworn enemy in the original Rudyard Kipling story collection.
The film is in development at Warner Bros., and is scheduled for release a year after Disney's rival live-action Jungle Book movie. Callie Kloves penned the script, and the feature will mark motion-capture actor Andy Serkis' directorial debut. Jon Favreau is directing Disney's version, with Idris Elba attached as the voice of Shere Khan.
Cumberbatch will appear as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, and will voice Classified in Penguins of Madagascar and Smaug/the Necromancer in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies later this year. The Jungle Book: Origins is scheduled for release October 21, 2016.