Benedict Cumberbatch and Gemma Arterton look set to join the cast of the Monty Python troupe's long-awaited return to cinema, Absolutely Anything, reports The Wrap.

Sherlock star Cumberbatch is said to be in talks for the project, which will be directed by Python Terry Jones from a script he co-wrote with Gavin Scott. Arterton has already signed on the dotted line, with filming set to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

Previously described as a "sci-fi farce", Absolutely Anything will feature Pythons Jones, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and John Cleese voicing aliens who are able to give humans the power to do "absolutely anything." According to The Wrap, the film centres on a teacher who benefits from the extra terrestrials' aid: he soon discovers he has magical powers and can make things happen with the wave of his hand (such as wiping out classrooms of badly behaving students and bringing people back to life). Yet he experiences mishap after mishap as he battles to master his new skills.

The film will be the first from Jones, director of Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, as well as co-director (with Terry Gilliam) of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, since 1996's The Wind in the Willows.

Sporadic attempts at a Python film reunion – the long-gestating Absolutely Anything will be their first movie proper since 1983's The Meaning of Life – have been made since their cinema career as a group ended. All surviving Pythons, bar Eric Idle, participated in the recent A Liar's Autobiography, a 3D animated adaptation of the book by erstwhile member Graham Chapman, who died in 1989, and his long-term partner, David Sherlock.

Cumberbatch is best known for his work on TV's Sherlock but is forging a place for himself in Hollywood with upcoming roles in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy and as the lead villain in the new Star Trek film. Arterton rose to fame as a Bond girl in 2008's Quantum of Solace and stars in the upcoming Neil Jordan vampire tale Byzantium, which premiered in September at the Toronto film festival.