This marks the second time that Benedict Cumberbatch has voiced a villain in a remake of an animated film. He previously voiced Smaug in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), for which Andy Serkis was a second unit director. This is also the second time that Cumberbatch has played a character named Khan. He previously appeared in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) as Khan Noonien Singh.