‘Sherlock Holmes’ director admits the franchise’s ball is entirely in Robert Downey Jr.’s court

There’s been countless iterations of the infamous consulting detective that is Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle conceived the character in in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels. In recent years, Benedict Cumberbatch and Henry Cavill’s renditions have ranked among the greatest portrayals ever, but that’s not discounting the unforgettable Basil Rathbone (of the late 1930s) or Jeremy Brett (of the ’80s and ’90s). What with BBC’s Sherlock taking off without a hitch and Cumberbatch delivering one of the greatest performances of his career, it’s easy to forget another legendary Holmes.

Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. embodied Sherlock Holmes for Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film of the same name, which co-starred Jude Law as Doctor John Watson, Holmes’ partner-in-solving-crime. Additional roles for Lord Henry Blackwood, Irene Adler, Mary Morstan, and Inspector Lestrade went to Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Rachel McAdams (About Time), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), and Eddie Marsan (Filth), respectively. Downey returned to the role for the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which properly introduced Jared Harris (Chernobyl) as Professor Moriarty, Holmes’ archenemy and intellectual equal.

Originally, the threequel only known as ‘Sherlock Holmes 3‘ was set for a December 25, 2020 release, but it suffered a delay until the following year before eventually getting removed from the release calendar entirely. The last we heard, Dexter Fletcher had relieved Guy Ritchie of directing responsibilities and seemed optimistic that the film would still happen. That was back in June 2022 and although we haven’t heard anything concrete since, there might be a glimmer of hope for the forgotten franchise if RDJ has anything to say about it.

Guy Ritchie, who directed the other two installments, told Collider that the future of the franchise was out of his hands and hangs in the balance. He mentioned that he’d relinquished all control over creative decisions to Downey, saying, “the ball’s in his court.”

“Well, honestly, I left this up to Robert [Downey Jr.]. So Robert wanted to be in charge of this. The ball’s in his court, so he’s in charge of the script, he’s in charge of the whole thing. I’ve moonwalked out of that until there’s a time for me to get involved.”

That clears the air a little, since Downey’s had a rather hectic personal life as of late. He lost his father, Robert Downey Sr., due to complications from Parkinson’s disease in July 2021, so it’s understandable that RDJ hasn’t made Sherlock Holmes 3 his main priority. Aside from the emotional toll, RDJ also spent the following months working tirelessly to pay tribute to his late father. In 2022, a Netflix documentary called Sr. was made in Downey Sr.’s honor by Chris Smith of American Movie fame. Sr. was produced by Team Downey (Robert and his wife/filmmaking partner, Susan) and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Downey recently shaved his entire head for his role in the upcoming television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s best-selling novel, The Sympathizer. Unless we’re waiting a year or two for Downey to grow out his luscious locks for a third outing as Holmes, it doesn’t look like Sherlock Holmes 3 will be leaving development hell any time soon.