Stephen Fry To Play Mycroft In 'Sherlock Holmes 2'

Brit wit and all around hilarious dude Stephen Fry took the opportunity this morning on Danny Baker's BBC's 5 Live radio show to announce that he will have a role in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes 2."

Fry will join the cast that includes the returning Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law along with new face Noomi Rapace, and will take on the role of Mycroft Holmes. That's right, he'll be the older brother of Sherlock which will undoubtedly lead some to some mad riffing between Downey Jr. and Fry who are both adept improvisers. Sounds very, very promising. Here's what Fry had to say about his part:

I’m playing Mycroft in the sequel to the Sherlock Holmes film Guy Ritchie directed with Robert Downey Jr., and that sort of part is fun, but just once in a while to play a genuine all round sort of lead figure with complexity and tragedy and wit and all the sort of things that Oscar [Wilde] had was a once in a lifetime thrill.

The big piece of the casting puzzle still to be figured is the role of Moriarty, which everyone seems to want Daniel Day Lewis to take (though we'd surprised — but pleasantly so — if he decided to take it).

"Sherlock Holmes 2" will shoot this fall and is already set for a December 16, 2011 release. [Bleeding Cool]