Despite our assumption she’d move on to greener, perhaps more serious pastures, Rachel McAdams will in fact be returning for the upcoming ‘Sherlock Holmes’ sequel in a film that will feature the detective’s arch-nemesis, Moriarty, as the driving antagonism.
Producer Joel Silver confirmed McAdams’ return to SciFiWire noting that “she’ll be present” but it seems safe to say that it won’t be as the leading lady as per her role in the first film which starred Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Mark Strong. McAdams is also tentatively scheduled to begin filming on Terrence Malick’s untitled next film in the fall co-starring Christian Bale, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko which might limit her availability for the detective franchise.
Silver also noted that the sequel would pretty much pick up from where the last film ended with the famous Arthur Conan Doyle detective facing his arch-nemesis. “We want it to be really bold and strong, and Moriarty has got to be a really incredible character. We spent a movie setting up a character, and now we can make the next movie where we pay that character off.”
Brad Pitt has been long rumored for the role of Moriarty probably on account of his previous collaboration with director Guy Ritchie on “Snatch.” That, however, was repeatedly debunked during the build up to the first film’s release after it was known the professor would be making an cameo-like appearance. Of course, what eventually transpired was that the character, who was the employer of McAdams’ Adler, was hidden in darkness and shadows throughout. It’s a genius move in hindsight but allowing them to now go all-out with the casting after earning the studio’s financial trust.
Just how confident is the studio in this franchise you ask? “We’ll start shooting in the fall and coming out maybe the following year,” Silver confirms. Last we heard was late summer, but we’re not surprised, it’s been bumped ever so slightly, early start dates are always a little too optimistic. The story of “Sherlock Holmes 2” will see the dynamic, crime-solving duo traipsing all over Europe.
