After his stint as Marvel’s “Iron Man,” Robert Downey Jr. has been progressively moving into the role of producer instead of actor. He’s behind the HBO series “Perry Mason” (a project he was once going to star in) and is now being tasked to develop shows for HBO Max connected to the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise. A third feature film has been delayed multiple times, and Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) was the last director attached to the project.
Variety reports that Downey Jr. and his production company Team Downey are working with Warner Bros. Television to create two shows set in the “Sherlock Holmes” universe. Each show will focus on a new character that will be introduced in “Sherlock Holmes 3.”
Before removing character/setting details from the original report, the outlet mentioned that one show would take place in 1920s Paris and focus on Holmes’ daughter Irene Watson, while the other show is set in 1890s San Francisco, following a black bounty hunter named Bartholomew King.
Back in March of 2019, I reported at HN Entertainment that there had been plans to set “Sherlock Holmes 3” in 1800s-era San Francisco, California, before further production delays. While an American setting might sound bizarre for Holmes, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was fascinated with friend/magician Harry Houdini along with American lawman William J. Burns, who he dubbed “the American Sherlock Holmes.”
It’s unknown if the third movie will ultimately head to the United States or will undergo setting rewrites to accommodate these new shows.
READ MORE: ‘The Penguin’: Colin Farrell Confirmed For ‘Batman’ Spin-Off Series On HBO Max
HBO Max is behind a multitude of series based on studio film properties, including “Dune: The Sisterhood,” a prequel series based on “The Batman” villain Oswald Coppleot, aka, Penguin, played by Colin Farrell, and “Welcome To Derry,” a prequel that takes place in the 1960s from Andy Muschietti.
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