Continuing his selection of roles that invest him with special powers, Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) has chosen How to Stop Time as his next starring vehicle. Shooting to fame as the world’s most clever detective Sherlock Holmes on BBC’s Sherlock for which he won an Emmy, the Oscar-nominated British actor has since played a genius on The Imitation Game, the dragon Smaug on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the villain Khan from a superior race on Star Trek Into Darkness, and superhero and Sorcerer Supreme on Doctor Strange.

This latest role will gift Cumberbatch the rare condition of being alive for centuries. How to Stop Time is a forthcoming novel from Matt Haig (Reasons to Stay Alive, A Boy Called Christmas, The Girl Who Saved Christmas), which is being published by Canongate Books in July. Cumberbatch’s Sunny March acquired the film rights, along with Studiocanal. Cumberbatch and Jamie Byng (CEO of Canongate Books) are executive producers. Studiocanal will distribute in the U.K., France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

The story centers on Tom Hazard (Cumberbatch), a man who appears to be around age 41, but who actually has been alive for centuries. In a statement quoted by Variety, the novel is “a wildly imagined love story that spans centuries and continents, and cements Haig’s reputation as one of the most original and exciting novelists of his generation.”

Cumberbatch will next appear in The Current War as Thomas Edison, American inventor of the phonograph, motion picture camera, and the electric light bulb.