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Benedict Cumberbatch is eyeing a role in Eric, a surreal-sounding limited series about a troubled puppeteer.

According to Variety, Cumberbatch is in final talks to star in the six-part Netflix series set in 1980s New York. His character, Vincent Sullivan, is the main creative force behind an enormously popular kids' show featuring puppets. However, when his young son disappears, Vincent's life crumbles and he ends up homeless and battling substance addiction.

Salvatian comes in the form of Eric, a "seven-foot tall blue puppet," who apparently shows Vincent a way to rebuild his life. The unique-sounding series has been written and created by Abi Morgan, whose previous credits include BBC America's newsroom drama The Hour. She also wrote and created the acclaimed legal drama The Split, which aired on BBC America last year.

Talking about the success of The Split last June, the show's star Stephen Mangan told us: "Abi has been through hell and back in her own life in the last few years. I'm not talking out of school here; she's written a book about it [This Is Not a Pity Memoir]. I think the pain she has gone through has given her writing even more compassion and humanity and awareness of how hard it can be just to get through." You can read the full interview here.

Meanwhile, Cumberbatch's last limited series role came in 2018's Patrick Melrose, a story about overcoming parental abuse and substance addiction for which he won a BAFTA award. More recently, he has scored his second Oscar nomination – for Jane Campion's Western The Power of the Dog – and led the hit Marvel blockbuster Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

You can also check out our feature on 10 reasons Benedict Cumberbatch never ceases to surprise.

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