Sherlock Holmes Universe Announced for HBO Max
Sophia Edwards
Updated on March 12, 2026
Two Sherlock Holmes film-TV universe spin-offs have been announced for HBO Max by Warner Media. Based on the films starring Robert Downey Jr., the spin-offs will be featured in a similar vein to TV series offshoots of Suicide Squad and The Batman on HBO Max and will be executive produced by both Downey Jr. and Susan Downey. Each will supposedly be focused on characters completely new to the universe established in the films.
A ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES’ universe is in the works at HBO Max with 2 scripted series.
Robert Downey Jr is set to exec produce both shows. It is unclear if he will reprise his role in either show
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— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 5, 2022
As stated, the characters that will be focused on in the Sherlock Holmes spin-off series for HBO Max have not been announced yet. All that is known at this time is that the characters are likely to be part of the long-in-the-works third installment of the feature franchise to film franchise, which began in 2009 with the release of Sherlock Holmes and continued with Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows in 2011. Both films starred Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as John H. Watson.
Guy Ritchie directed the first film from a screenplay from Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg. Ritchie also directed the sequel from a screenplay by Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney and featured Law, McAdams, Stephen Fry, and Jared Harris.
The third film, currently unnamed, was initially slated for a December 2020 release that was then pushed to December 2021, which of course, has come and gone. An official release date has been neither announced nor confirmed, as it was delayed thanks to the pandemic. As such, the status of the third installment is intertwined with these two upcoming spin-offs.
This is not the first time a Sherlock Holmes series has been produced. Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed the detective most recently in four seasons of the BBC/PBS drama Sherlock, and Johnny Lee Miller played the character most recently in Elementary, which also starred Lucy Liu as Dr. Watson, and ran for seven seasons on CBS.
