Sci-Fi Storm

Hot on the heels of the earlier announcement, another British actor is scored for Star Trek 2: Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s been pretty hot lately. After starring in the British mini-series Sherlock (with more episodes currently airing in the UK), he scored roles in The War Horse and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and is playing two rules in the upcoming The Hobbit films – the voice of the Necromancer and Smaug the Dragon.

Deadline reports that Cumberbatch will be playing a lead role, but nothing more. Could he be a villain? Khan?

Syfy plans to make a mess of the Earth this month with a pair of Saturday original movies.

In Collision Earth, premiering Saturday, January 14 at 9PM (ET/PT), a solar flare knocks Mercury out of its orbit and onto a collision course with Earth. With global devastation quickly approaching, the secret military initiative, “Project 7,” must be activated to save the world from disaster. Collision Earth stars Kirk Acevedo (Fringe) and Diane Farr (Californication), and is a production of Cinetel Films.

In Swamp Volcano, premiering Saturday, January 28 at 9PM (ET/PT), oil rig drillers in the Gulf of Mexico accidentally hit an underground lava flow, causing a massive volcano to form in Miami. Now a vulcanologist and her sister attempt to blow the whistle on an illegal oil drilling scheme before it sets off the eruption that will destroy civilization. Swamp Volcano stars Rachel Hunter (The Benchwarmers) and Brad Dourif (Lord of the Rings) and is a production of Bullet Films.

In a cross-franchise, cross-ocean move, Noel Clarke, who played the recurring role of Rose Tyler’s boyfriend Mickey Smith on Doctor Who, is joining the cast of Star Trek 2 in an unnamed role, but the character is described as “a family man with a wife and young daughter.”

Clarke joins fellow British actors Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) and Simon Pegg (returning as Scotty).

Star Trek 2 is scheduled for release on May 17th, 2013.