Robert Downey Is Making ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Shows For HBO Max
The Sherlock Holmes franchise, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the iconic private detective and Jude Law as his sidekick Dr. Watson, has been stalled out for several years. The series produced two financially successful movies about a decade ago; the first in 2009 and the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, in 2011. A third film was supposedly in development, and in fact at one point it even had a scheduled release in December 2020, Obviously, that never happened and to date, the film has never gone into production.
Apparently, the series is not dead, though, and is now being repackaged for television. Variety reports that Downey and his production company are working on not one but two new television series set in the Sherlock Holmes universe that appeared in his two feature films. They don’t specify that Downey himself will appear in the series. Instead, their report claims “the two shows would each focus on a new character that would be introduced in Sherlock Holmes 3” which, again, is a film that as of this writing, has not actually been made.
The two shows are intended for HBO Max, which appears increasingly invested in television spinoffs from big-screen Warner Bros. franchises. They are developing multiple series based on the recent DC comics blockbuster The Batman and earlier this year they had a hit with Peacemaker, a spinoff from last summer’s movie The Suicide Squad. There has also been talk about television series based on or continuing the events of Dune and the It franchise.