Entertainment Movies Historical Movies Robert Downey Jr. Will Return as Sherlock Holmes Following the End of His Marvel Run The actor played the British detective in the first two installments, and the third will open in December 2021 By Dana Rose Falcone Dana Rose Falcone Dana Rose Falcone is a Staff Writer covering TV at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE for seven years. Dana Rose's work has previously appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Men's Fitness and Us Weekly. People Editorial Guidelines Published on July 12, 2019 01:56PM EDT Robert Downey Jr. made bank on Avengers: Endgame (a reported $75 million), but now that the franchise has come to an end — and so has Tony Stark/Iron Man’s life — the actor will return to another popular series of films. Eight years after the release of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Downey, 54, will reprise his role as the titular British detective in the third Sherlock Holmes movie, according to Variety. Jude Law will return as Dr. John Watson, with Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher taking the helm. He’s stepping in for Guy Ritchie (Aladdin), who directed the first two installments. Marvel/Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Downey told Entertainment Weekly in March 2018 that he wanted to take a break after his run of Avengers and Iron Man films. RELATED VIDEO: Robert Downey Jr. Hilariously Battles with Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo Over Their Facial Hair “I have a million ideas, but I can tell you the God’s honest truth. Having done Avengers 3 and 4 back-to-back, and now doing [Doolittle] … When I’m done with this, if you hear I’m not taking a break, call me and tell me I’m crazy,” said the two-time Oscar nominee, who will also take the lead in 2020’s The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle. Silver Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock But he also expressed interest in doing another Sherlock Holmes movie after having starred in the first two. “There’s all this stuff down the pike,” Downey said. “We’re looking at another Sherlock Holmes, we’re developing Perry Mason for HBO. I still want to do Pinocchio.” Sherlock Holmes 3 will hit theaters in December 2021.