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The Sherlock Holmes saga has truly stood the test of time, in fact, the fiction detective created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spans back to 1887 after it appeared in print for A Study in Scarlet. Generation after generation have been inspired and captivated by the precarious tales of the old-school crime fighter. In 2009, the franchise was thrust into a modern day era with a feature film starring the likes of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. But with a widely successful film, a sequel and a forthcoming third instalment, it appears the lead doesn’t want to stop there.
Following retirement from the Iron Man character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it appears the actor is looking for longevity in his current role. During a panel at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival this week, Downey Jr. and his wife, a producer, Susan Downey confirmed “conversations are happening” to build out the third film into a universe. Say, reminiscent to the MCU or DC Universe.
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“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,” Susan Downey said. “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.”
Robert Downey Jr. added, “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 dimensionalised than it was before.”
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It was believed that the third Sherlock Holmes film was to drop late this year, but due to the health crisis and declining box office, Warner Bros. will likely push the film back to at least December 2021.
