Mark Rylance is in talks to play the father of Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter character in Disney's sequel to 2010's Alice in Wonderland, entitled Through the Looking Glass.

Plot and character details are being kept under wraps, but he joins a cast that also includes Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Sacha Baron Cohen as the unidentified villain. It isn't known how the Mad Hatter's father will figure into the story quite yet.

James Bobin (Muppets Most Wanted) is directing from a script by Linda Woolverton (Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent), with Disney hoping to get the sequel into production sometime this summer.

Although he is best known for his work on the stage, Mark Rylance's big-screen credits include The Other Boleyn Girl, Anonymous and the upcoming crime drama The Gunman, which hits theaters later this year.