Morris Chestnut is playing the newest iteration of John Watson in CBS’ Watson, and says fans can expect to see more than a few low-key references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes book series.
“I couldn’t catch them all because once we’re in production, there were so many of the ones that were very pertinent to the story line,” Chestnut, 56, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the show’s premiere on Sunday, January 26. “I was able to ask a lot of questions. And after I was reading some of Sherlock Holmes after we wrapped, I was like, ‘Oh.’ Some things came to me that I didn’t realize at the time.”
Chestnut appreciated the medical drama‘s “profound examination into the mythology.”
“[In the show], Watson gave up the life that he had and ended up losing his wife to go solve mysteries and crimes with Holmes. Now that Holmes is gone, he allowed Watson a second lease on life by providing this clinic,” he teased. “But throughout the first season, that’s one of the things that Watson is dealing with. He’s dealing with who he is without Holmes at this stage of his life with everything that he’s lost.”
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Chestnut continued: “He is just trying to rebuild a relationship with his wife, trying to rebuild the clinic and his medical practice. So throughout the first season, Watson questions [who he is without Holmes] quite a bit.”
Based on Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson takes place six months after James Moriarty kills the legendary detective. Watson must come 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.
“I did not consult any other [past] Watson [performances]. I did of course read some of the books and I looked at some of the other projects out there. For me, I felt that this character was different because the other Watsons are primarily not the focus,” Chestnut explained to Us of his performance in the upcoming series. “The story is always told from Sherlock’s perspective. So this story is being told from Watson’s perspective in a very specific way. We’re part of the mythology, but the clinic and being a detective is not part of the mythology.”
CBS offered Watson the “freedom” to “really explore” a different take on the Sherlock Holmes franchise. Chestnut, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, says he had a “very collaborative” experience with creator Craig Sweeny after his work on Elementary.
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“Craig and I communicated quite a bit for the character,” the actor recalled before referencing Sweeny’s past contemporary series based on Sherlock Holmes. “Craig is so well read in the mythology that there’s nothing that you can say about it that he doesn’t know. I feel we’re very ambitious [in] taking on this phenomenon in the way that we do. And having someone like Craig as an overall resource was tremendous.”
Watson is the second CBS series to take inspiration from the Holmes stories. Elementary, which aired from 2012 to 2019, starred Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. Liu’s iteration was a former surgeon hired by Sherlock’s (Jonny Lee Miller) father to help him in his rehabilitation as a recovering drug addict and former consultant to Scotland Yard.
In addition to Chestnut as Watson, Eve Harlow plays a highly skilled neurologist named Ingridwith a questionable past, while Peter Mark Kendall plays twin brothers — Stephens and Adam — who are infectious disease and functional medicine specialists. The show also features Inga Schlingmann in the role of Sasha, a specialist in rheumatology and immunology. Ritchie Coster rounds out the cast as Shinwell,a former criminal acquaintance of Holmes and Watson, while Rochelle Aytes plays Watson’s ex-wife, Mary.
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“We’re not just doctors — we are detectives. We’re doc detectives. I’ve done medical dramas before but this wasn’t just medical. I’ve done detective dramas before but it wasn’t just detectives. The combination of both of them made it really interesting to me,” Chestnut noted. “It is a very ambitious undertaking that we’ve done. But the core and the foundation is still pretty much the same. And having a one hour procedural, I was just really excited to be a part of it.”
Watson premieres on CBS after the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, January 26, at 10 p.m. ET. It will begin airing in its regular time slot on Sunday, February 16, and new episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
