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Sherlock Holmes: Will Ferrell And John C. Reilly To Play ‘Holmes & Watson’, BBC Series Gives Teaser Trailer [video]

By Jeffrey Totey
Published on: 07:29 PST, Aug 17, 2016

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first wrote his books about Sherlock Holmes, he would never have guessed that they would become so popular in 2016. Yesterday, Deadline announced that Holmes & Watson, a new comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, was in the works. The Sony Pictures comedy will be directed by Etan Cohen and is said to have a similar “comic bent” to his past projects with Will and John. Naturally, Ferrell will be playing the role of Sherlock and Reilly will tag along as Dr. Watson.

According to the report, Sacha Baron Cohen was originally cast as Watson, but after the project stalled, Reilly was brought in. This will be the third movie starring Ferrell and Reilly. The two previously appeared together in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Step Brothers (2008). Holmes & Watson is expected to go into production right after Thanksgiving.

The Sherlock Holmes project is the latest addition to Ferrell’s slate of upcoming films. In April, it was announced that Will would star in an unnamed project based on the Guy Lawson article for the New York Times magazine, “Ice Pack: An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole,” which is about a group of everyday men wanting to travel to the North Pole by snowmobile. Ferrell will also team up once again with Mark Wahlberg for Daddy’s Home 2, but he backed out of the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer’s comedy after getting blasted by critics and Reagan family members.

As for Reilly, his future projects include voice work for the animated Sing and Wreck-It Ralph 2, and acting in Kong: Skull Island and Stan and Ollie, where he is expected to play Oliver Hardy.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes fans are also looking forward to the 4th season of the BBC / PBS series Sherlock, which is not expected to air until early 2017. The series, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, is rumored to kill off one the show’s main characters, reports Movie News Guide, but which character that is remains, well, a mystery. Some point to character of Molly Hooper, the morgue attendant played by Louise Brealey. She is a fan favorite and originally was only going to appear in one episode, but quickly became a regular.

“We went against our first decision which was ‘We will not add a regular that’s not from Doyle,'” says screenwriter and creator of the show Steven Moffat. ” The first thing we did was add a regular character that’s not from Doyle!”

Molly’s death in Sherlock is only a rumor, and she is not the only one in danger for the season, which has been described as “devastating” and “terminal.” John Watson’s wife, Mary (Amanda Abbington), is also said to be in danger and her departure from the series would make sense since her character didn’t survive Doyle’s entire book series.

The CBS modern Sherlock Holmes series, Elementary, that stars Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as a female version of Dr. Watson, will enter its fifth season on the air this fall. That version features the British inspector investigating crimes in New York City.

In the first episode of the season, Holmes and Watson will join the NYPD on a manhunt for a serial bomber and will seek help from Shinwell Johnson (Nelsan Ellis), a former criminal and character featured in Doyle’s story, The Illustrious Client.

Finally, there are rumors that Guy Ritchie will reunite with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law to make a third Sherlock Holmes film, but as of yet, it is just a rumor.

[Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images]

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