CBS’ Watson found a way to bring Sherlock Holmes back from the dead — or did it?
During the season 2 premiere, which aired on Monday, October 13, John Watson (Morris Chestnut) came face to face with Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle) at the end of the episode. The only problem? It has been established that Holmes previously died at the hands of archenemy James Moriarty (Randall Park).
Chestnut, 56, spoke exclusively with Us Weekly about the reveal — including whether Holmes is real or a figment of Watson’s imagination.
“That’s an excellent question. I’m still trying to figure it out myself. Is he here or is he not?” Chestnut noted. “It’s a very perceptive question. Quite honestly at the time we filmed it, I didn’t know.”
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Chestnut didn’t want to know the answer too soon, adding, “At the time we filmed the first two episodes, I personally didn’t know. Because I don’t ask [creator] Craig [Sweeny] what is coming up in the future. I don’t ask him about certain things. I just read [what’s on the page].”
Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson takes place six months after Moriarty kills the legendary detective. Watson came to terms with the loss of his best friend and partner by resuming his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders.
Season 1 built up to a confrontation between Watson and Moriarty. This time around, the series will try to balance introducing Sherlock without revolving the entire story around a deceased character.
“Watson is a very smart doctor in his own right. He’s mentoring a lot of brilliant minds. However, he doesn’t have anyone that he normally can turn to when he needs to figure out something or where he gets stumped in a situation,” Chestnut noted. “So Sherlock is who Watson believes is the smartest man alive [even if] a figment of his imagination. Once he’s around, Sherlock is that person that Watson can bounce things off of.”
He continued: “Particularly when it comes to solving some of the medical cases outside of the hospital in a detective aspect of it, he can bounce that off of Sherlock.”
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The introduction of Sherlock isn’t the entire focus of season 2.
“It is a procedural show. We have a procedural show with the serialized spine. So ultimately, we will have a case of the week each week that we’re presented with,” Chestnut shared. “We have to diagnose and then solve them. But there are also going to be a lot of surprises and a lot of twists and turns that the audience may not expect.”
Chestnut expressed excitement for the world of Watson to expand, adding, “You learn more about the characters on the show. We spent so much time as Watson was dealing with Moriarty and the loss of Sherlock Holmes that it was pretty much dominating. … This year, we get more into the characters. We’re going so much more without Moriarty there. We’re going so much more into the character development.”
Watson airs on CBS Mondays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
