Actor Stephen Fry has joined the cast of Sherlock Holmes 2, the upcoming sequel to the 2009 hit directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams.

Fry is set to play Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of Downey’s Sherlock character. If the character plays out like he did in Arthur Conan Doyle‘s books, Mycroft is more intelligent than Sherlock and works for super secret government agency, but also more lazy than his younger sibling. Sources say the character will be a bit of an oddball and suffer from social anxieties.

Fry is a famed British actor and comedian, seen in movies like Gosford Park, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, and V for Vendetta. He’s also well-traveled voice actor, offering up vocals for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and many video game titles including Fable II (and its upcoming sequel), Little Big Planet, and a handful of Harry Potter games.

Sherlock Holmes 2 is currently set for a December 16, 2011 release date, and most of the first movie’s cast and crew are set to return. The only real change seems to be the female lead, being previously played by McAdams, which recently saw Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) being cast for the sequel.

[Source: BBC via Bleeding Cool]