The most recent chapter in a billion-dollar franchise that may never return puts the pieces together on streaming

Outside of DC Comics and the Wizarding World – the latter of which is in real danger of fizzling out completely – Warner Bros. doesn’t have a lot of bankable franchises at its disposal, which makes it all the more frustrating that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows remains the last time we saw Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law getting up to some sleuthing.

Both installments earned upwards of $500 million apiece at the box office and found plenty of favor among critics and audiences, but it’s been well over a decade since any serious forward momentum was made. Guy Ritchie dropped out a long time ago to be replaced by Dexter Fletcher, but even the new man behind the camera doesn’t seem too optimistic.

Taking a bankable A-list star and churning out countless sequels to a proven IP that’s generated upwards of a billion dollars in the span of two features is Hollywood’s bread and butter, and yet we’ve never been given a full explanation as to why Sherlock Holmes 3 seems destined to never escape development hell, especially with the leading man edging closer and closer to 60 years old.

The anachronistic steampunk spectaculars retain plenty of support and enthusiasm, though, as evidenced by A Game of Shadows exploding in renewed popularity on streaming. Per FlixPatrol, the international hunt to uncover and apprehend the nefarious scheme put in place by Jared Harris’ Moriarty has reappeared on the most-watched charts of both Starz and iTunes heading into the weekend, with the sequel-baiting finale increasingly beginning to look as though it marked the end of the road for the saga altogether.