Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are both keen to return to the roles of Holmes and Watson...
We're going to have to wait at least another year for Sherlock Holmes 3, as the threequel has been pushed back 22 December, 2021. It was previously set for release on Christmas Day next year. Warner Bros broke the news to outlets earlier this week.
Both Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law have been talking up a third film in the franchise for years, and if Sherlock Holmes 3 does stick to its new release date, it'll have been an entire decade between numbers 2 and 3.
There's currently no director attached to this new outing for the characters of Holmes and Watson, and no talk of Guy Ritchie returning to helm the project after directing the first two movies. Ritchie has recently been concentrating on the release of Disney's live-action Aladdin, and his new movie, Toff Guys.
There is a script in place for Sherlock Holmes 3, however. One written by Chris Brancato, a man with a solid background on Netflix's Narcos and NBC's Hannibal.
Last August, Law spoke to Entertainment Weekly about returning to the role of Dr. Watson after such a long time between sequels.
"We hope to propel the story forward. As always, the essence of the story is their codependency," he said. "We’re going to examine — since it’s been several years since we’ve seen them — we’re going to play up the fact that they haven’t seen each other for a long time either."
If you're wondering why Warner Bros would keep holding out hope that it'll get its ducks in a row for another movie after ten years of 'maybe', the first two films - Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: Book Of Shadows - made over a billion dollars between them worldwide.
As for Law and Downey Jr, they've both been a bit busy with a little thing called the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of late.
Practicing my Sherlock face. pic.twitter.com/Vs7kGF70Re
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) August 19, 2018
More on Sherlock Holmes 3 as we get it.