Guy Ritchie’s take on legendary detective Sherlock Holmes may not be to everyone’s tastes – I have at least one purist friend who regards it as an aberration of nature – but there’s no denying it’s a much looser, more broadly entertaining interpretation of the character than anything that has gone before. In a popular culture dominated by the BBC and Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern day incarnation of Holmes, it’s a testament to Ritchie’s efforts and the charms of leads Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law that both 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows proved so successful. However, fans of the series eagerly awaiting a third instalment have been left wanting, as efforts to bring a third film to the screen have so far been frustrated. In a recent interview with Empire magazine, Law shed some light on the project and expressed a desire to exceed what has gone before.

“It’s a slow process,” said the actor, currently talking up his turn in offbeat drama Dom Hemingway. “We’re all busy. So getting us together to try to nail that has taken a little bit longer than we had hoped.”

He went on to say, “I think Warners wants [a third Holmes movie], and there’s a lot of want from us as a team. We want it to be better than the other two. We want to make sure it’s smarter and cleverer, but in the same realm.”

The end of A Game of Shadows saw Holmes take his infamous leap off the Reichenbach Falls, a move echoed in the thrilling denouement to the second season of the Beeb’s show. Whereas we can presumably expect a more strait-laced return for Holmes on television, the frenetic pacing of Ritchie’s film versions indicates that his detective will put in a more eccentric reappearance. Iron Man 3 co-scribe Drew Pearce has been put on script duties for the film, which will presumably see further light when producers find a way to work around Downey Jr.’s hectic schedule for Marvel. With a wee bit of luck, hopefully we won’t have to wait for concrete news for much longer.

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Grace Duffy

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