We’re still waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to return as his best character outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 16 years after his debut in one of the character’s best live-action adaptations. While he spent 11 years in the MCU as Tony Stark’s Iron Man, and is soon set to return as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, Robert Downey Jr.’s career extends far beyond just Marvel movies. In fact, he even brought another of his best characters to life during his time as Iron Man, and we are desperate to see him return.
Robert Downey Jr. took on the role of the best-known fictional detective in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, a feature film adaptation of author Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories that released on Christmas Day, 2009. Set in 1890, Sherlock Holmes follows the titular “consulting detective” and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), who team up to investigate the crimes of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a mysticist who has risen from the dead. Sherlock Holmes garnered a huge box office draw of $524 million on a budget of $90 million, leading to a similarly-successful sequel in 2011, but we’re still waiting for a third.
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What We Know About Sherlock Holmes 3’s Story & Release Date
While Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows explored original storylines, they were both inspired by the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, which gave them a sense of authenticity and electricity. The movies’ action sequences, performances from Downey and Law, and unique visuals were praised, making both commercial successes, despite mixed reviews. Unfortunately, a third movie in the series had been planned, but has since spent years in development hell.
In 2019, it was announced that Dexter Fletcher (Sunshine on Leith, Rocketman) would replace Guy Ritchie as Sherlock Holmes 3’s director. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed back development even further, but, in 2023, Fletcher revealed that he and Team Downey—Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey—were still working on a script. In 2020, also, Team Downey revealed plans for a Sherlock Holmes franchise to be explored in spinoffs and TV shows, but nothing has yet come to fruition.
During a conversation with Collider in October 2025, Susan Downey revealed that they “came pretty close at one point” to finally getting Sherlock Holmes 3 off the ground. She suggested it was for the best that version didn’t see the light of day, but that she “would love to bring a third Sherlock [Holmes] to the world… we’ve been playing with it for a long time.” She also noted the third movie could be set in the United States, putting Sherlock in a completely new environment, which could be a fun evolution for the character, but is also a wild risk for what could be a budding franchise—16 years in the making.
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