As is the case with many movies these days, the upcoming Sherlock Holmes 3 has hit a production snag. The film’s original plan was to release sometime this year. But in March of last year, it was pushed back an entire year to December 22nd, 2021. It still currently holds that date, but director Dexter Fletcher has given an unfortunate update. Fletcher spoke about the production problems in the era of COVID-19 on the Celebrity Catch Up podcast. The pandemic is affecting the sequel and his remake of the 1997 action thriller, The Saint.
Sherlock’s hit its own issues on and off. That’s sort of sitting on the back burner at the moment until it becomes clear where the world is at and what’s going to happen. The same is with The Saint. I’m pushing ahead with both of them, and that’s always part of the challenge.”
Fletcher went on to say that the problems his productions are facing are the same everywhere. In the world’s current state, it’s incredibly difficult to get large groups of people together and travel around the world to film. It’s a bit too early to push the movie back again. But if production can’t begin, we’ll likely see another delay down the road.
Fletcher signed onto the project in July of 2019. Guy Ritchie directed 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Fletcher previously directed last year’s acclaimed Rocketman and 2015’s Eddie the Eagle, both of which starred Taron Egerton. He also took over directing duties on 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was let go from the project.
In other Sherlock Holmes news, star Robert Downey, Jr. and producer/wife Susan Downey recently spoke about their desire to create a shared universe. Ideally, Sherlock Holmes 3 would be the jumping-off point. However, we may be waiting a while to see that idea take form.