Watson has gone through a surprising number of changes over summer hiatus ahead of Season 2, most notably being moved from a midseason premiere on CBS next year to being paired with FBI for fall of the 2025 TV schedule. Recently, news broke that Watson is bringing in a character who I never expected to be cast for more than a flashback role, and I have big questions about how this version of Sherlock Holmes will fit into a John Watson-led series.
At least one thing is certain – showrunner Craig Sweeny guaranteed that another character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works is definitely dead after Season 1!
Robert Carlyle Is Recast As Watson's Sherlock Holmes
Watson has officially cast Once Upon a Time's Robert Carlyle to recur in Season 2 as Sherlock Holmes, who was presumed dead throughout all of the first season. According to Variety, Sherlock will resurface and force Morris Chestnut's character to face a secret from his own past that's actually hidden in his own body.
The news come after Season 1 found a way to include Sherlock Holmes without bringing him back from the (presumed) dead: a flashback. What We Do in the Shadows' Matt Berry voiced Sherlock after the Watson team "dug around in the couch cushions" to get him for Episode 7, according to showrunner Craig Sweeny, but he never appeared in the flesh. (That episode is available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.)
So, unless a second big twist is on the way with Robert Carlyle taking over the role, Sherlock Holmes is alive despite his death as one of the building blocks of Watson from the start. I'm therefore pretty glad that Sweeny confirmed in no uncertain terms that Moriarty, playing by Randall Park, is definitely dead. Some characters really just need to stay dead!
Don't Worry – Moriarty Is (Probably) Still Dead
While the showrunner only had good things to say about the lovable Randall Park as the despicable James Moriarty, he also firmly said "Yes" when I asked during our interview in the spring if the finale's ending twist was really the death of Sherlock's and Watson's nemesis. I noted that it would probably be hard for even somebody as sneaky as Moriarty to fake his death in a hospital, and Sweeny said:
With the world's most brilliant doctor right in front of you instead of passed out! No, it's not one where I want to be cagey. I think the character of Moriarty, the things he's done and things he caused Watson to do will continue to hover over the show, but that is the conclusion of his time as a human on this planet.
Moriarty died in the Season 1 finale when he fatally overestimated how far he could push Watson without the doctor taking drastic action. Instead of saving Moriarty after turning the villain's own DNA technology against him, Watson treated one symptom and then sat by his bedside to watch him stroke out and die. The doctor who normally would do no harm was pushed past his point of no return, and let his enemy die.
And according to Craig Sweeny, Moriarty truly is dead. The showrunner went on to tell me that the writers had to find a way to push Watson to the point "where he could see this as nothing but the right choice" to let Moriarty die. Of course, I also thought that Watson would keep Sherlock Holmes dead so that John could unambiguously be the star of his own show, so it'll be interesting to see how Season 2 incorporates the world's greatest detective.
Watson Season 2 arrives on CBS on Monday, October 13 at 10 p.m. ET. In the meantime, you can always revisit episodes you might have missed from Season 1 (or just feel like rewatching for fun) streaming with Paramount+.
