Benedict Cumberbatch Sacrificed His Signature Mane In This WILD Way For His New TV Show

Everyone wants to know — what's going on with Benedict Cumberbatch's hair? It was looking all thick and tusselled when he was Sherlock, but now? Well, now, those locks are receding. That seems to be the case for his latest role, anyway. Cumberbatch (not to be confused with Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch") plays the main role in Channel 4's new show Brexit: The Uncivil War, taking on the slightly balding Dominic Cummings, the main strategist behind the Leave campaign. Now I'm all too curious to know, is Benedict Cumberbatch's hairstyle in Brexit: The Uncivil War real?

"Sure I've got more hair than Dominic," Cumberbatch told The New European on Dec. 31, 2018, confirming that yes, he's still got the luscious locks. Cumberbatch wasn't just typecast for the role of Cummings because he may or may not have a receding hairline, but because he's a darn good actor, remember.

So, how'd he get that receding look? Y'know just in case you wanted to try it on at home. Well, he told The New European, "I had a ‘no-hawk’," which means he went "Completely bald on top and with my normal hair at the side and had a sort of piece go over to look like Dominic looked at the beginning of the campaign."

Cumberbatch also told The New European that he'd met Cummings himself in order to research his role, and found him to be "very brown and handsome," as he sported a fully shaved head when the actor first met him — perhaps he's picked up some hair inspo.

Besides the stuff on his head, Cumberbatch really wanted to pick Cummings' brains and get into his actual head, and on Dec. 28, 2018, Mashable detailed the ways in which he tried to do just that. He reportedly watched this video clip of Cummings on YouTube exhaustively, right until he was really able to nail the strategist's mannerisms and composure, as well as that fairly distinctive Durham dialect.

Cumberbatch also reportedly fired off a bunch of questions to Cummings, including: "What makes you tick? Who inspired you at school? What's your favourite colour? Do you prefer bitter of lager?" Cumberbatch didn't seem to hold much prejudice against Cummings before he met him, despite the actor being a fairly vocal Remainer. As The Guardian reported on May 20, 2016, Cumberbatch was one of 250 celebrities to sign an open letter which urged voters to sway towards "remain" ahead of the referendum.

"I wanted to have the challenge of transforming into someone that’s pretty far from myself, in many ways, and to see the world through his eyes. I wanted to look into understanding how and why he did what he did, and how and why that affected the outcome of the referendum," Cumberbatch told Channel 4. In doing so, the nation might also understand how it was swayed towards a decision that has reportedly been causing it so much stress. In the midst of Brexit based confusion and chaos, I think that's all you could hope for right now.