Guy Ritchie’s new Sherlock Holmes release is just around the corner, with his new TV series Young Sherlock set to debut on Prime Video in 2026. However, it’s important to note that the show doesn’t signal the return of Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movie franchise starring Robert Downey Jr.
Instead, Ritchie’s decision to make an unrelated TV series with different production companies and star actors will bring closure to fans of the franchise, while still serving as a spiritual prequel to his previous work adapting the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective. The first images of Young Sherlock released by Prime Video strike this balance perfectly.
They transport us back to the world of Victorian England familiar to us from various Sherlock Holmes movies, including those directed by Guy Ritchie. Yet, the graphics and set designs also feel fresh, authentic and richly-textured, befitting a period drama of the streaming age.
They’re more akin to the Small Heath of Peaky Blinders or the Dublin of House of Guinness, two Steven Knight shows with which Young Sherlock will undoubtedly share much of its audience. Nevertheless, we should expect lead actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin to channel Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes, adding his own dash of youthful exuberance for good measure.
Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock Show Is The Perfect Replacement For Sherlock Holmes 3
Guy Ritchie isn’t just directing Young Sherlock, but also executive producing. His overall supervision of the Prime Video series, in addition to signature directorial flourishes, should make it the perfect replacement for Sherlock Holmes 3. The third installment of Ritchie’s movie franchise has been sitting in development hell for well over a decade now.
The director himself is now completely unattached to Sherlock Holmes 3, while his development of Prime Video’s Young Sherlock suggests that he’s switched his priorities for a new screen release about Holmes. Ritchie has been working on the upcoming series with showrunner Matthew Parkhill, who’s best known for creating and co-writing the British crime drama shows Rogue and Deep State.
Colin Wilson, who’s spent the best six years producing Star Wars series such as The Mandalorian and Skeleton Crew, is also on board in an executive role alongside Ritchie. In front of the camera, the likes of Zine Tseng, Max Irons, and Colin Firth are playing supporting roles in Young Sherlock.
Joseph Fiennes will feature, too, joining his nephew Hero Tiffin Fiennes onscreen to play his character’s father. Meanwhile, The Crown’s Natascha McElhone will portray the young Holmes’ mother. The Wheel of Time star Dónal Finn rounds out the cast as a younger version of Sherlock’s nemesis James Moriarty.
Based on novelist Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes prequel novels, the show will depict a brash and outlandish teenage version of Holmes during his time studying at the University of Oxford. His instinctive brilliance is already there in spades, but he lacks the discipline he’ll need to make it as the world’s greatest detective.
Young Sherlock Is Not Connected To Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes Movies
Although it will definitely give Holmes a murder mystery to solve, Young Sherlock isn’t linked to Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes franchise, despite the involvement of Guy Ritchie in both projects. Those hoping for this series to serve as a direct, canonical prequel to the movies will be disappointed.
Still, because Ritchie is behind it, Young Sherlock should honor Downey Jr.’s franchise in spirit, even if it breaks with canon in narrative terms. Our first look at the show gives us plenty to be hopeful about, as its overall aesthetic is exactly how we’d imagine a Guy Ritchie prequel to the movies.
Young Sherlock’s cast members also appear to fit their roles perfectly, from Zine Tseng and Max Irons as Holmes’ worldly sidekicks, to the mustachioed screen magnetism of Colin Firth and Joseph Fiennes, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s boyish charm as the young protagonist.
It helps that none of the young central characters are played by major stars inextricable from other roles. This swashbuckling detective show could be the making of them. In this vein, it’s actually a plus that no big-name Hollywood star from the movie franchise has come aboard the series with Ritchie.
Prime Video’s Young Sherlock will be able to build its own legacy, at the same time as providing fans of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes franchise with an exciting new origin story adventure, spread across several episodes at least. It certainly helps that Ritchie is behind the camera, to embellish the series with familiar notes for franchise fans when required.
What Is Going On With Sherlock Holmes 3?
While anticipation is building for the release of Young Sherlock on Prime Video in 2026, the prospects of seeing Sherlock Holmes 3 in theaters at any point this decade don’t look particularly bright. Every update about the movie’s development never seems to reveal signs of genuine progress, including franchise producer Susan Downey’s latest comments in October 2025.
Speaking to Collider, Downey explained that a previous attempt to produce Sherlock Holmes 3 stalled because of scheduling issues, while remaining entirely non-committal about the future of the project. More than 14 years after work began on a script for the sequel to 2011’s A Game of Shadows, it’s further away than ever.
As much as Susan Downey says she wants to bring a third movie into the world, her husband, Robert, could well be on a different page at this point. With the franchise’s director, Guy Ritchie, off making a completely separate series about Sherlock Holmes with Prime Video, plans to resurrect it seem far-fetched to say the least.
The release of Young Sherlock on the small screen amounts to a Catch-22 for those behind Sherlock Holmes 3. If the Prime Video series does well, Ritchie will focus his attention on further seasons of the show, rather than more movies with Robert Downey Jr. If it does badly, any prospective revival of the movie franchise will be further undermined.
Either way, fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic literary creation shouldn’t worry too much about whether the Sherlock Holmes movies are coming back anytime soon. Instead, it’s time to get excited about what Young Sherlock may have to offer us in 2026.
