Can CBS' Elementary and BBC's Sherlock Co-Exist?
There’s no shortage of Sherlock Holmes interpretations in the current pop culture zeitgeist.
There’s the big-screen Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., for two movies now and counting. There’s the BBC version, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, which just debuted its critically acclaimed second season on PBS in May. And now there’s a third man entering the race: Jonny Lee Miller, who will play the famed quirky detective on CBS’ upcoming drama Elementary. It may be an increasingly crowded field, but Miller & Co. sounded up for the challenge during the show’s Comic-Con panel on Thursday.
VIDEO: First look at Elementary and CBS’ other new series
“The fact that there have been so many interpretations over the years actually takes the pressure off a little bit,” Miller told the crowd. “You can take what you want — what you feel hasn’t been seen before … and discover some new stuff and try to bring it to the audience.”
Miller said he paid the most attention to the original source material, the books, but by pure coincidence he wound up having a second source to tap into: Sherlock star Cumberbatch, with whom Miller co-starred in the Royal National Theatre production of Frankstein. Miller acknowledged that the two talked about their similar projects, but declined to divulge exactly what was said. “We wanted to be sure that it was going to be very different, so that was the conversation that we had,” Miller said. “He’s been very, very supportive actually. We just discussed what a wonderful character it is.”
One big way Elementary differs from its previous counterparts? The character of Watson, who for the first time will be played by a female actress, Lucy Liu. “I always think it’s wonderful when people do turn things on their heads. I think [executive producer Rob Doherty] was really thinking outside the box,” Liu said. “I think the gender change also creates a dynamic and a chemistry different from the films and also the BBC version.”
She added: “I’m not saying it’s romantic. It just gives it a little bit of a shift, a little bit of a tingle.”
Does that tingle mean that Sherlock and Watson will become TV’s newest will-they-or-won’t-they couple? Doherty said that he hopes to keep the characters’ “incredible bond” close to its original form. “It was never designed for that,” he said, when asked about possible romantic tension. “It just made me laugh. What would be more trying for Sherlock Holmes than working with a Watson that’s a woman?”
However, there are certain ways Elementary will overlap with its many predecessors. One serious possibility is the eventual introduction of famous supporting characters from Holmes’ world, including Professor Moriarty and Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother. “We want to keep some secrets to ourselves. But it would be a great shame to do a Sherlock project and not have Moriarty appear at some point in time,” Doherty said. “It’s something that we will be looking at as we move through this first season.” As for Mycroft’s debut, he said they “might hold off on him for a little bit.”
“Moving forward, we’d like to contribute our own stories and our own material to the canon,” he said.
Elementary premieres on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 10/9c on CBS. Will you be tuning in?
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BSBs: Would like to point out this isn’t the first female Watson. There have been tons. Do your research TVGuide!
“It just made me laugh. What would be more trying for Sherlock Holmes than working with a Watson that’s a woman?” This. Makes. Me. Lose. It. Dear Producers of “Elementary” please shut up. Please. Just. Stop. Talking. Because every time you open your mouths, you undo the work that’s on the screen.
I want to love this, in spite of my gut instincts over the whole charlie-foxtrot of CBS, but the producers keep saying stupid, awful things. Especially on top of completely altering Watson’s background WHEN THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO.
Why would would a Watson who is a woman be so bloody buggering trying for Holmes, Mr. Doherty? Please, do enlighten us.
ETA: Here is a panel attendee’s review. There are spoilers, but there are also some additional comments from the production team that I find illuminating. “The panel, in the subsequent Q&A, said that it opened up new areas for the relationship, areas not possible between two men as in the original.”
Really? Reallyreally?
Please shut up, people. Please just shut up and stop confirming the fact that you’re complete jackasses.
I have no problem with a Holmes/Watson relationship being romantic or sexual. I have no problem with a female Watson. I have no problem with a female Holmes, if anyone’s up for it.
I have a problem with making Watson a woman for the sole purpose of getting her into bed with Holmes. I have a problem with the assumption that a female Watson is the most awful thing that could happen to Holmes. I have a problem with the idea that in the 21st century, a romantic or sexual relationship between two men isn’t possible. Hello: NEW YORK HAS MARRIAGE EQUALITY YOU SNIVELING TWITS.
I love Jonny Lee Miller. I love Lucy Liu. I desperately need the producers of this show to STFU so that they don’t make me irreparably loathe it before it airs.
