‘Moriarty’ Series About Sherlock Holmes’ Nemesis In The Works

[feurioo]

Fremantle and Operation Mincemeat producer Archery Pictures are collaborating on Moriarty [working title], which comes from writers Chris Cornwell (A Discovery of Witches) and Oliver Lansley (Where’s Wanda?).

 

The team said Moriarty will be a “modern reinvention of the crime procedural, based on the most famous villain in all of detective fiction.” Moriarty is a Professor of Criminal Psychology at Durham University but leads a secret double life as the mastermind behind every crime of sophistication in the North of England. When a rival criminal begins an assault on his underground empire, Moriarty will have only one choice: to join the police as a consultant, using the law as a weapon to dismantle his foe while keeping his true identity hidden from the police. Paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, a stoic Yorkshire detective, they’ll form a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realize that the real threat isn’t the rival criminal faction he’s dismantling.

Read more at Deadline.

Given the recent cancellation of Watson, do you think there’s still room for another Sherlock Holmes-inspired procedural to succeed? What would it need to do differently in order to feel fresh and compelling?

Comments

[trobadora]

I'm easy, you say "Moriarty" and I'm here. *g*

[feurioo]

Haha, love your icon! :) (I'm already curious about how well this Moriarty version will compare.)

[trobadora]

Yeah, I'm very curious who they're going to cast!

[donutsweeper]

Moriarty is barely in the Holmes canon so I assume they'll just be playing off the name. The idea itself that they've presented could make for an interesting story but it doesn't seem to be related to actual Moriarty at all.

[violateraindrop]

That is exactly what I was thinking. Watson also didn't need the Sherlock Holmes connection.

[trobadora]

I mean, it could be, depending on how they want to play it. But either way it does sound interesting!

[shadowkat]

Reminds me of The Blacklist and Hannibal.

[feurioo]

If they actually managed to achieve that with a charismatic lead, I'd be seated. At least for the first episode.

[jo]

do you think there’s still room for another Sherlock Holmes-inspired procedural to succeed?

This Moriarty project isn't the only one in the works. Sky recently announced The Death of Sherlock Holmes, a six-part series starring Rafe Spall as an amnesiac Holmes forced to deduce his own identity high in the Swiss Alps. Guardian article here: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/may/26/do-we-need-another-sherlock-holmes-reboot-rafe-spall-sky

[feurioo]

Good to know! If the script is clever enough, an amnesic Holmes could be a lot of fun.

[trobadora]

Oh, that is excellent news too, I like the sound of it!