Guy Ritchie’s bingeable eight-hour detective drama can only get better as the series continues. With his trademark style, humor, and action sequences, Ritchie has created some of streaming’s most exciting shows; add in any element of mystery and intrigue, and it’s bound to be a hit, as proven by the director’s recent success on Prime Video’s streaming charts.
Surely, it was only a matter of time before Ritchie returned to the realm of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, after his Robert Downey Jr.-led duology offered a fresh, more adventurous take on the world’s most iconic fictional detective. Now, however, Richie’s most recent Holmes adaptation has taken the character in an entirely new direction. Ritchie, Peter Harness’, and Matthew Parkhill’s Young Sherlock explores the famous sleuth’s life long before he moves into 221B Baker Street and meets John Watson.
Across eight episodes, Young Sherlock’s first season depicts Sherlock (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) as never before. As a young, inexperienced, amateur detective, he’s more willing to accept help from his family and unexpected friends. However, because this is a time in Sherlock’s life audiences are largely unfamiliar with, season 1 spends a significant portion of its eight episodes introducing and developing character dynamics and Holmes’ budding talents, leaving less time for the more exciting, adventurous scenes viewers may expect in a Ritchie production. Thankfully, though, that will all change in Young Sherlock’s second season.
Young Sherlock Season 2 Can Take Its Mystery To The Next Level
Young Sherlock season 1 has a compelling enough central mystery, involving a secret network of Britain’s most elite minds, the death of Sherlock and Mycroft’s (Max Irons) younger sister, Bea, and the creation of a deadly chemical weapon. The case doesn’t really hit its stride until the latter half of the season, however, when it becomes an international, fist-fighting, explosive adventure. What’s more interesting in Young Sherlock’s first few episodes is Sherlock’s surprising friendship with the one and only James Moriarty (Dónal Finn).
Prime Video · Character Profile
Which Young Sherlock Character Are You?
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth.”
🔍
Sherlock
The Detective
😈
Moriarty
The Mastermind
♔
Mycroft
The Strategist
ENTER 221B →
01
You’ve got a free afternoon with no obligations. What do you do?
AWander somewhere new, observe strangers, and try to deduce their secrets
BStudy people — watch how they behave when they think nobody’s watching, and file it away
CStay in, read the papers, and quietly map out what everyone else is missing
NEXT →
02
You receive an anonymous warning that someone close to you is in danger. What’s your first move?
AUse the situation to my advantage — every crisis is an opportunity if you play it right
BTrace the source of the warning first — knowledge is leverage
CExamine the note for clues — the answer is already here if I look closely enough
NEXT →
03
You’re part of a group trying to solve a problem. What role do you naturally fall into?
AI coordinate from behind the scenes — nobody realises I’m steering the ship
BI chase the most interesting thread and tune out the boring parts
CI let everyone think they’re leading while I quietly ensure the outcome I want
NEXT →
04
Someone publicly accuses you of something you didn’t do. How do you react?
ADismantle their argument piece by piece until they wish they’d never opened their mouth
BLet them think they’ve won, then slowly dismantle everything they care about
CSmile, say nothing, and let them dig their own grave while I watch
NEXT →
05
A friend confides a dangerous secret to you. What do you do?
ASecrets are currency — I’ll keep it safe, but I’ll remember it when I need leverage
BStart investigating the threat immediately — feelings can wait, facts can’t
CQuietly make the problem disappear before they even realise I’ve intervened
NEXT →
06
What would your worst enemy say is your greatest flaw?
ACold and controlling — I treat people like pieces on a board
BManipulative — I play people like instruments and feel nothing about it
CArrogant — I’m so sure I’m the smartest person in the room that I miss what’s obvious
NEXT →
07
You discover a vital clue hidden in a dangerous part of the city at midnight. What’s your move?
AGo alone — I work best when nobody else is slowing me down
BSend someone I trust and have them report back — why risk myself?
CArrange for the clue to come to me — why walk into a trap when you can set one?
NEXT →
08
When it’s all said and done, what matters to you most?
AControl — the world is chaos, and someone has to impose order on it
BTruth — I need to understand how things really work, no matter the cost
CPower — the only way to guarantee your safety is to be the one everyone else fears
REVEAL MY CHARACTER →
Case Closed
Your Young Sherlock Identity
🔍
Sherlock Holmes
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody ever observes.”
You’re the brilliant outsider who sees what everyone else misses. Your mind never switches off — every room is a crime scene, every conversation a puzzle to decode. People find you intense, sometimes abrasive, and a little exhausting, but when trouble arrives you’re the first person anyone calls. You struggle with the emotional side of life, preferring logic to sentiment, but deep down you care far more than you’d ever admit. Like young Sherlock, you’re still learning that the sharpest mind in the room isn’t always the wisest.
Brilliant
Restless
Fearless
Obsessive
😈
James Moriarty
“Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain.”
You’re the one who sees the entire game before it’s even begun — and you’ve already decided how it ends. Charming on the surface and ruthless underneath, you understand people better than they understand themselves, and you’re not above using that knowledge to get exactly what you want. You don’t do anything without a reason, and your patience is terrifying — you’ll wait years to spring a trap. People either admire you or fear you, and honestly, you prefer it that way. Like young Moriarty, your brilliance is matched only by your ambition, and you believe the line between hero and villain is just a matter of perspective.
Cunning
Charismatic
Ruthless
Patient
♔
Mycroft Holmes
“I occupy a minor position in the British government.”
You’re the quiet power behind the curtain — the one who sees the entire chessboard while others are fixated on a single piece. You prefer strategy over action, influence over confrontation, and you never break a sweat because you planned for every contingency three moves ago. People underestimate you because you don’t chase the spotlight, but that’s exactly how you like it. Your composure is legendary, your patience is a weapon, and your ambition runs deeper than anyone suspects. You protect the people you love — you just do it from the shadows.
Strategic
Composed
Ambitious
Calculating
↻ PLAY AGAIN
This unique perspective on Holmes and Moriarty’s relationship is, by far, one of the best parts of the show. For once, they’re on the same side, helping each other during what is one of the most formative periods of their lives. They feed off each other’s energy and intellectual curiosity. Young Sherlock season 1 is almost like an episode of Marvel Studios’ What If…?, asking what it would be like if these two traditional enemies were something else entirely.
The final episode of season 1 sets up a more familiar dynamic for them, as the pair begins to drift apart when Moriarty gets a taste for crime and power. The additional emotional depth in their relationship from season 1 will only add to their story in Young Sherlock season 2. Finn, who delivered an excellent, charismatic performance in the first season — often overshadowing Fiennes Tiffin’s Sherlock — will finally be able to let the darker side of his character shine through.
The anticipation of when Moriarty will turn on Sherlock will almost certainly increase the tension, no matter the case the young detective is working on. Given this version of Sherlock’s world and his most important relationships have now been set up, that case will likely be a rip-roaring, fun adventure, involving more chases, fights, explosions, intrigue, and Ritchie-style rapid-fire dialogue and humor.
There’s nothing left to hold the series back now. Both Sherlock and Moriarty have had their first taste of danger, making them all the more reckless as they grow into more traditional versions of their character — in Sherlock’s case, a less naive one, as well. While season 1’s 84% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is nothing to scoff at, surely, the series will be able to improve upon it in season 2.
What To Expect In Young Sherlock Season 2
James Moriarty Cordelia Sherlock Holmes in Young Sherlock
Prime Video announced the official renewal for Young Sherlock season 2 on April 14, a little over a month since the first season dropped in full on the streaming platform. Though nothing has been revealed about the upcoming season’s plot, Guy Ritchie will return to direct the opening episode, promising a fast-paced kickoff for the show’s sophomore mystery.
Though the trajectory of Sherlock’s relationship with Moriarty is clear, it’ll also be interesting to see how his relationship with his family will develop, particularly with his mother and brother. This is still a much younger, less established, less antisocial version of Sherlock, after all, and the series should continue to play with those unexpected aspects of his character.
More Moriarty is certainly no bad thing, either. Giving him more of his own perspective, away from Sherlock, will give this version of the Holmes story an edge that no other adaptations have had before. A closer look at the inner workings of Moriarty’s budding criminal mind would add a much darker, more psychological tone to the show, a nice counterbalance for what promises to be an action-packed second season. Young Sherlock can only get more exciting from here.
All episodes of Young Sherlock season 1 are now streaming on Prime Video.
Release Date
March 4, 2026
Network
Prime Video
Showrunner
Matthew Parkhill
Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Sherlock Holmes
Zine Tseng
Princess Gulun Shou’an
