After more than a decade away from Conan Doyle’s universe, Guy Ritchie returns to Baker Street with “Young Sherlock”, a new Prime Video series that imagines the early life of the legendary detective. The series explores Holmes as a young man before he became the celebrated figure of 221B. Prime debuted the first teaser, confirming that all eight episodes will premiere on March 4.
The series follows a raw, unfiltered Holmes in his formative years – a young man already disgraced and teetering on the edge – when he gets caught up in a murder investigation that threatens his freedom. His first case, however, quickly expands into a globe-spanning conspiracy that will shape the man he is to become. Set in 1870s Oxford and venturing abroad, “Young Sherlock” explores the restless energy of a boy who has yet to emerge as the celebrated detective of Baker Street.
The concept of a young Holmes on screen is not without precedent. In 1985, the feature film Young Sherlock Holmes – directed by Barry Levinson and penned by Chris Columbus – depicted a young Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meeting and solving a mystery together at a boarding school. The film combined Conan Doyle’s characters with a style of adventure reminiscent of the era’s action-adventure films.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) takes on the title role, joined by Dónal Finn, Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, and Colin Firth.
Based on Andrew Lane’s spin-off novels, the series sees Ritchie directing the first two episodes and serving as executive producer, returning to the franchise more than a decade after his feature films Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).
Television veteran Matthew Parkhill serves as showrunner, with executive producers Dhana Rivera Gilbert, Marc Resteghini, Simon Maxwell, Ivan Atkinson, Simon Kelton, Colin Wilson, and co-executive producers Harriet Creelman and Steve Thompson. Physical production was led by Motive Pictures.
