Stephen Fry is Mycroft Holmes

There isn’t much known about the upcoming sequel to the fun, if not entirely accurate, Sherlock Holmes, not even a title.  Even Jude Law, the series’ Dr. Watson, is only so far rumored to appear in the film.  But one bit of quite exciting info is forthcoming from the horse’s mouth.

At least, one horse’s mouth.  In a BBC Radio interview, Stephen Fry happened to mention in passing (while talking generally about being a character actor) that he is signed on to play Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s mysterious gentleman’s-club-dwelling brother.

Mycroft, in our opinion, is a near perfect role for the British renaissance man, a character with all the intelligence of his more proactive brother, but instead of being lit afire by the demands of his genius, content to spend all of his time lazing around a gentleman’s club developing mysterious government and criminal contacts.

We look forward to the inevitable (and archetypal) scene of Robert Downey, Jr. and Mr. Fry divulging the dark secrets of each passerby out the cafe window to the amazement (or, judging by the tone of the movie, annoyance) of Jude Law.

You can listen to the interview for the next week on the BBC’s website.  Fry’s interview starts at about 0:47:00, but he doesn’t mention Sherlock Holmes until 1:09:00.

(via Bleeding Cool.)