Wes Anderson to direct new Roald Dahl adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog — (Image credit: Netflix)

Wes Anderson will direct an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Netflix, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the title role, according to The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a short story published in a collection of the same name in 1977. It follows the titular character, a wealthy man with a penchant for gambling who masters the art of seeing through playing cards to find out what's on the other side and predicting the future through meditation.

Anderson previously directed an adaptation of Dahl's novel Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was released in 2009. The stop-motion animated movie features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and Willem Dafoe.

His last movie was The French Dispatch, and he's also helmed The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Anderson's next project is Asteroid City, which features a mammoth all-star cast including Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and Jeff Goldblum. His movies are known for their A-lister ensemble casts, so it's likely we can expect more famous faces to be announced for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar soon.

As for Cumberbatch, he was recently seen in another Netflix movie, Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog, opposite Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst. He can next be seen in Doctor Strange 2, which hits theaters in March.