What if Sherlock Holmes but just Watson and it’s a medical procedural? That’s the question CBS is asking as it casts Morris Chestnut in the leading role of its upcoming show Watson.
The series is a modern take on the character, telling the medical-mystery-filled story of Dr. Watson a year after the death of his close friend Sherlock Holmes as he returns to practicing medicine and leading a clinic that treats rare disorders. The show will deal not only with weekly medical issues that have to be cracked using a combination of Watson’s medical expertise and his Holmsian mystery-solving abilities but also the fallout of Holmes’ death and an ongoing plotline involving Moriarty, Sherlock Homles’ nemesis and the one responsible for his death. No word on who will play Moriarty yet.
The series is coming from a familiar Holmes place. CBS’s hit series Elementary updated the Sherlock Holmes story for a modern-day and starred Lucy Lui as Watson. The show was a hit for the channel and so they’re running it back in a new way with Elementary showrunner Craig Sweeny. Sweeney will act as Watson‘s showrunner and wrote the pilot episode making him quickly the dominant force in Sherlock-Holmes-based popular culture, even if Benedict Cumberbatch is still everyone’s favorite and Enola Holmes is hot on his tails.
CBS has not set a premiere date for the series but it’s been in development at the beginning of last year and is earmarked to be part of the 2024-2025 broadcast season meaning we should see it soon.
“We are thrilled to feature such a beloved character from the world of Sherlock Holmes at the center of this series and have it brought to life by Morris Chestnut in a fresh and unexpected take on the immortal doctor,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “Craig Sweeny’s bold new vision for the complex Dr. Watson deftly interweaves rich character storytelling with edge-of-your-seat medical mysteries.”
