Sherlock Holmes Universe Grows With Moriarty Series In Works; Who Is The Detective's Arch Nemesis?

After

Watson and Young Sherlock, a new series is set to focus on the character of James Moriarty. The character is the big villain of the Sherlock Holmes universe and now a new show will be a modern interpretation of the character. Several actors have played the infamous villain who is a thorn in famed detective Sherlock Holmes' side. Most recently, Dónal Finn played Moriarty in Amazon Prime Video's Young Sherlock, which is coming back for a second season. Here's all we know so far about the new Moriarty series.

Who is James Moriarty?

The character was created as a foil by author Arthur Conan Doyle in December 1893 for Sherlock. He planned to kill off the detective and end the short stories. The professor is actually a ruthless leader of a criminal enterprise who provides felons with special services for a fee, including protection from the law. Doyle had based Moriarty on a real-life criminal mastermind named Adam Worth. In the original canon, the character has only appeared twice. But in film and TV adaptations, the character has much bigger prominence as Sherlock's arch nemesis.

All about Moriarty series

According to a report in Deadline, producers Fremantle and Archery Pictures are developing a series tentatively called Moriarty. Chris Cornwell and Oliver Lansley are attached as the writers of the show, which is said to be a "modern reinvention of the crime procedural." No network or OTT platform has come on board as yet. The description of the series in works has Moriarty as a professor of criminal psychology at Durham University. No one knows that he has a secret double life as a criminal mastermind. In the series, a rival attacks his empire and Moriarty has no choice but to join the police as a consultant and use his influence to take his foe down. He teams up with Yorkshire detective Imogen Burrows to solve cases and keep his real identity hidden. However, he faces several other threats along the way.

Actors who have played James Moriarty

The most famous rendition of Moriarty came from Andrew Scott, who played the character in the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Baker Street detective. He won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Other actors who played Moriarty include Ralph Fiennes, Jared Harris, Eric Porter and Dónal Finn. There was even a gender swap with Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer as Jamie Moriarty on Elementary. Randall Park played the antagonist in the recently cancelled CBS spin-off Watson with Morris Chestnut in the title role.