Director Dexter Fletcher has revealed that he believes a third Sherlock Holmes film will get still get made, it’s just a matter of getting all the right pieces in order.
While speaking with Collider, Fletcher stated that Sherlock Holmes 3 was a no-brainer given the A-list talent involved in the sequel, specifically Robert Downey Jr. Here’s his full quote:
“The pandemic derailed it. I do think it will get made. I think it has to be made. I don’t know what the timeline of that is, unfortunately, but I believe it should be. It’s fantastic. I think it’s about all the right people being at the right place, at the right time. I think it’s that. It’s one of those cruel twists of fate, where the pandemic hit and that scattered people around the world to the wind. But I know that the appetite is huge for it, and I’m sure there are other people acutely aware of that as well. But I believe it should be because it’s brilliant. I very much hope so.”
Fletcher signed on to direct Sherlock Holmes 3 in July 2019 back before the pandemic days. The third film in the action-mystery series even had a Christmas release date for 2020, which was then bumped to 2021 and then removed completely off the calendar.
In October 2020, it was reported that Downey and his producing partner/wife Susan Downey were wanting to launch a “mystery-verse” akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here’s what Susan Downey said on the potential shared universe:
“Doing a one-off third movie, we could do, but we do think there’s opportunity to build it out more, to spin off some characters from the third movie, to see what’s going on in the television landscape, to see how Warner Media is starting to build things out with HBO and HBOMax. We definitely have kind of grand schemes and plans and all that, but it takes a lot. It takes a lot of coordination because again, Marvel wasn’t built in a day. It took several wins and things that worked very well to then be able to connect them, to then be able to branch out.”
RDJ also commented on the potential for a series of film and shows built on Conan Doyle works:
“At this point, we really feel there’s not a mystery-verse built out anywhere, and Conan Doyle is the definitive voice in that arena to this day, so to me, why do a third movie if you’re not going to be able to spin off into some real gems of diversity, and other times and elements? We’re not repeaters, we don’t want to just try to do what’s been done somewhere else. But I think the model itself has become much more dimensionalized than it was before.”
I actually really enjoyed the 2009 and 2011 Sherlock Holmes films from Warner Bros. and would welcome a third (and fourth, fifth, etc.) film in the series. I’d be less interested though in a bunch of Doyle adaptations that don’t feature Downey’s Sherlock or Jude Law‘s Dr. Watson.
Fingers crossed that Warner Bros. decides to greenlight Sherlock Holmes 3 because I’d be the first in line to see it.
Would you be interested in a Sherlock Holmes 3 starring Downey and Law, or has it been too long since the last film for you to be interested? Tell us down in the comments!
