Amazon Prime Video has ordered a series based on Andy Lane’s “Young Sherlock Holmes” novels with Hero Fiennes Tiffin set for the lead role, Variety has learned.
Guy Ritchie is attached to direct and executive produce the eight-episode series. It will be a reunion for Ritchie and Tiffin, who recently worked together on the feature “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” It is also the latest Sherlock Holmes project for Ritchie, as he previously directed two films about the famous detective starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes, Jude Law as Dr. Watson, and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler.
“In ‘Young Sherlock’ we’re going to see an exhilarating new version of the detective everyone thinks they know in a way they’ve never imagined before,” said Ritchie. “We’re going to crack open this enigmatic character, find out what makes him tick, and learn how he becomes the genius we all love.”
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Matthew Parkhill (“Deep State,” “Rogue”) is the writer, showrunner, and executive producer on the series. Along with Ritchie and Lane, Simon Kelton of Inspirational Entertainment also executive produces, as does Ivan Atkinson, Simon Maxwell of Motive Pictures, Dhana Gilbert, Colin Wilson, and former Amazon head of series development Marc Resteghini. Harriet Creelman will co-executive produce for Motive Pictures. Physical production is running through Motive Pictures.
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Kelton originally packaged the project with Atkinson before partnering with Motive, Gilbert, and Resteghini and bringing it to Amazon MGM Studios, where both Gilbert and Resteghini have overall deals.
Lane has written eight books in the “Young Sherlock Holmes” series, with the most recent debuting in 2015. The Amazon series is officially described as an “action-packed origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character. At age 19, Sherlock Holmes is disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed, when he finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University which threatens his freedom. Diving into his first-ever case with a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock manages to unravel a globe-trotting conspiracy that will change his life forever.”
“This exciting, new chapter about one of the world’s best-known literary characters, will delight our global customers with its captivating storytelling” said Vernon Sanders, head of television for Amazon MGM Studios. “With the brilliant creative team, led by Guy Ritchie and Matthew Parkhill, we will explore untold mysteries of how young Sherlock found his way to a life of truth-seeking.”
In addition to his role in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” Tiffin has starred in films like “The Woman King,” “The Loneliest Boy in the World,” “First Love,” the “After” franchise, and “The Silencing.” He is also known for playing a young Tom Riddle in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
He is repped by CAA, Vybe Trybe, The Artists Partnership, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Ritchie is repped by WME.