Sherlock Nemesis Moriarty Set for Drama Series From Fremantle, Archery Pictures

Sherlock Holmes remains a prime source of inspiration for TV execs, so what to do when series about the iconic private detective have become almost ubiquitous?

Elementary, my dear reader; turn to his arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.

The criminal mastermind, created by author Arthur Conan Doyle to torment his famously observant protagonist, is set to star in his own drama series from Archery Pictures and Fremantle.

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The show, tentatively titled “Moriarty,” will offer a contemporary twist on one of fiction’s most famous villains, with Moriarty re-imagined as a professor of criminal psychology at Durham University leading a secret life as the mastermind behind some of the most sophisticated crimes in the North of England.

“When a rival criminal begins an assault on his underground empire, Moriarty will have only one choice: to join the police as a consultant, using the law as a weapon to dismantle his foe while keeping his true identity hidden from the police,” reads the logline. “Paired with Detective Imogen Burrows, a stoic Yorkshire detective, they’ll form a fearsome team, but Moriarty will soon realise that the real threat isn’t the rival criminal faction he’s dismantling, but Imogen’s increasingly perceptive suspicions…”

“A Discovery of Witches” scribe Chris Cornwell has been attached to write the series with Oliver Lansley (“Flack”).

Archery Pictures and Fremantle will co-produce the show, which has yet to be cast. Fremantle are also repping global sales.

“We are thrilled to be working with Fremantle to bring to life the original and character driven spin off from the Sherlock Holmes universe that Chris Cornwell has created,” said Kris Thykier, founder of Archery Pictures. “‘Moriarty’ (w/t) will show audiences what it takes to be a criminal genius, combining genre thrills with a playful, dark, and thrilling dive into the psychology of villainy.”

Rebecca Dundon, SVP for scripted content at Fremantle, added: “We’ve been looking for a project to work with Archery on for a while and when Kris brought this to us, we instantly saw huge potential for a commercial, returning franchise that brings to life one of the more allusive characters in the Sherlock world: Moriarty. It’s exciting to collaborate with Kris and the team at Archery to bring a premium, propulsive, contemporary drama to screen that will not only be clever and hooky, but also give us a fresh spin on the procedural crime format with an unconventionally brilliant protagonist at the heart who will constantly surprise and frustrate viewers in a highly entertaining manner!”

The copyright in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories expired in stages across Europe and the U.S. between 2000 and 2023, lapsing in its entirety on Jan. 1, 2023.

Over that time there have been a number of high-profile drama series about the beloved detective, including CBS series “Elementary” with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, in which Moriarty is played by Natalie Dormer, and the BBC’s “Sherlock” series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which saw Andrew Scott play Moriarty.

Feature film adaptations include Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” and its 2011 follow-up “A Game of Shadows,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as duo Holmes and Watson, with Jared Harris as Moriarty, and most recently Netflix’s “Enola Holmes” film series, in which Milly Bobby Brown plays Sherlock’s little sister while Sharon Duncan-Brewster appears as a reimagined Moriarty-esque character.