Sherlock Holmes 3 has been in development hell for 12 years, and following the announcement of Guy Ritchie’s newest project, I have no hopes for it ever happening. On January 8, 2009, Guy Ritchie brought Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson back to the big screen, with Sherlock Holmes grossing $524 million at the box office. The film, which starred Robert Downey Jr. in the titular role and Jude Law as the famous sidekick, received a sequel three years later, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Between BBC’s Sherlock series, the Robert Downey Jr.-led Sherlock Holmes movies, and the Elementary show, the early 2010s saw a “Sherlock Holmes resurgence” in pop culture that made it seem like future theatrical movies were bound to happen. However, despite Downey Jr.’s massive Iron Man success and the solid returns of the first two films, Sherlock Holmes 3 never happened. A third movie was never officially ruled out, though, which is why I still had some hope that it could happen. Now, however, Sherlock Holmes 3 seems more difficult to happen than ever.

Guy Ritchie Is Directing A Young Sherlock Show For Amazon

Young Sherlock will have eight episodes

Guy Ritchie, who directed Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, will helm a Young Sherlock series for Amazon. The show, which is based on Andy Lane’s Young Sherlock novels, will star Hero Fiennes Tiffin as a 19-yeard Sherlock as he “finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University.” This version of Sherlock is described as “disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed.”Young Sherlock will follow Sherlock’s first case, which will lead him into a “globe-trotting conspiracy” that will impact the young detective’s life forever.

Amazon’s Young Sherlock is said to be an action-packed take on the character’s origin story, with Ritchie directing and executive producing the eight-episode series. According to Vernon Sanders, head of television, at Amazon MGM Studios, Young Sherlock will “explore untold mysteries” in how the character became the detective presented in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Matthew Parkhill, known for Deep State and Rogue, is writing and executive producing the show. Young Sherlock won’t be Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s first collaboration with Guy Ritchie, as the former played Henry Reyes in Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock Is Not A Prequel To The RDJ Movies

Young Sherlock is inspired by Andy Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes books

Amazon’s Young Sherlock is inspired by Andy Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes book series, which started in 2010 and currently consists of eight novels. All of the books take place in the late 19th century and follow the adventures of a young Sherlock Holmes, starting with a 14-year-old version of the character in Death Cloud (2010). The latest entry in the series, Night Break, was published in 2015. The Young Sherlock Holmes novels have nothing to do with 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes, the American film that sees Holmes and Watson meet as teenagers in a boarding school.

Although Amazon’s official Young Sherlock announcement mentions Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies when describing the director’s witty and charming style, there seems to be no connection between the upcoming series and the Robert Downey Jr.-led movies. Although I was initially surprised that Ritchie was stepping back into the world of Sherlock Holmes for a project that was not Sherlock Holmes 3, an adaptation of Young Sherlock Holmes helmed by Ritchie does sound promising. Curiously, in 2022, THR reported that Robert Downey Jr. was developing two Sherlock Holmes shows for HBO Max, but nothing has been said about these projects since.