Now you will note the question marks at the end of that headline, and there's a very good reason why there are two of them there.
Firstly, Benedict Cumberbatch has not been confirmed to star in the new Star Wars movie, but Hollywood has been all abuzz with gossip ever since it was announced that he had very recently pulled out of some rather big projects, including Guillermo Del Toro's next movie Crimson Peak, but with no reason given.
When asked upfront about it, both Disney and Bad Robot responded with "deny, deny, DENY!", while LucasFilm went into absolute information lockdown mode, and refused to respond in any way. But numerous sources are leaking rumours that Cumberbatch is definitely involved, and the fact that he's worked for director JJ Abrams recently in Star Trek: Into Darkness certainly helps fuel those rumours.
Secondly, there was no mention that Cumberbatch would indeed by going to "the dark side", but come on! When you picture him in the Star Wars universe, tell us that you're not seeing him all evil, in a hooded cloak and red lightsaber, being a totally bad bad-ass?! Yeah, of course you do, because that would be awesome!
There have been other recent casting rumours floating around too - Alex Pettyfer as some kind of Skywalker descendant, and Rachel Hurd-Wood as his possible sister - but they were far less believable than this hopefully true story!
With all the gossip hitting fever pitch, how much longer can Abrams, Disney and Lucasfilm hold out before giving in and releasing some info? We're guessing... a while, but don't be surprised if they release the teaser-iest of teaser trailers around Christmas time!
Star Wars Episode VII is due in cinemas in 2015.
