MOVIE NEWS – Two Sherlock Holmes spin-offs are reportedly in development at HBO Max, from the team of Robert Downey Jr.

After three feature films, Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes universe expands on the small screen. According to Variety, development has begun on two different spin-off series set in RDJ’s Holmes universe. According to the report, both series are planned to focus on the new characters introduced in Sherlock Holmes 3. It is unclear exactly what these characters will be or whether Downey will appear separately as Sherlock.

Downey is also reportedly set to executive produce the spin-offs alongside Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell, the other members of Team Downey.

Lionel Wigram of Wigram Productions will also executive produce. Warner Bros. Television will deliver the production.

This news comes as HBO Max has ordered a new series to follow up on some of Warner Bros.’s movies in recent years. These include the recently announced It prequel series, Welcome to Derry, which will reportedly be the origin story of Pennywise the Clown. At least two Batman spin-offs are also in development for the streamer, one set in Arkham Asylum and the other following Colin Farrell as Penguin. A Dune spin-off series is also in the works.

Sherlock Holmes hit cinemas in 2009, while a sequel, Sherlock Holmes: Shadow Play, followed in 2011. The films, starring RDJ as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr Watson, are based on the original detective novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The original film grossed more than $524 million worldwide, and the sequel grossed an additional $543 million, bringing the movie to well over $1 billion at the global box office.

This news could also mean that the long-delayed Sherlock Holmes 3 is back on track. As the previous films were big box office hits, it was only natural that there was talk of a sequel. Although SH3 was given a release date of 2021 at one point, it has not materialised to date: the project simply hasn’t quite gotten off the ground. In any case, Robert Downey Jr. has teased several Holmes films in the past, including comments in 2020 that he was planning to work on some spin-offs alongside the development of the next film.

HBO Max has so far not officially confirmed the news of Holmes spin-offs, and no official announcement has been made about Sherlock Holmes Part 3. Now that these rumours have leaked out, we might be hearing a report soon…

Source: Variety