Rafe Spall to Lead The Death of Sherlock Holmes—Is This the Detective’s Final Act?

Let’s be real: there are more Sherlock Holmes adaptations than there are flavors of potato chips. Most famously, Robert Downey Jr. went from suiting up as Iron Man to donning Holmes’s deerstalker in two blockbuster movies – but it looks like we’re getting a fresh take, this time for TV, and the actor stepping into the oversized shoes is… Rafe Spall. You might not know the name, but you’ve likely seen his face – especially if you’re a fan of British genre films.

Who Exactly Is Rafe Spall?

Rafe Spall may not be a household name, but he’s turned up in some pretty recognizable places. He delivered the iconic ‘You’ve got red on you’ zinger in Shaun of the Dead, popped up in the rest of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, and landed roles in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Black Mirror, and the Apple TV series Trying. If you’re getting a sense he’s one of those ‘oh that guy!’ actors, you’re right.

What’s This New Holmes Series Actually About?

Sky is rolling the dice on Spall as their new Sherlock in a TV show called The Death of Sherlock Holmes. Here’s where it gets a bit nerdy: the series puts the spotlight on the three missing years in Holmes’s timeline – the ones where he supposedly vanished (everyone thought he died at Reichenbach Falls in 1891) before his surprise comeback in 1894. Conan Doyle barely touched on what Holmes was up to during that in-universe gap, so this is all-new territory story-wise.

The show’s creative team comes with some international crossover: Claudia Bluemhuber (Fallen), André Küttel (Platzspitzbaby), and Pierre Monnard (Winter Palace) are the folks behind it, with Küttel and Simone Schmid (Die Beschatter) writing. So expect a blend of Swiss-European plotting mixed with British iconography.

Here’s What Sky And The Producers Are Saying

The studio folks are (unsurprisingly) hyped. Jonathan Ford, who runs Sphere Abacus, basically said:

'Audiences never seem to get tired of Sherlock Holmes, and with this series’ focus on Holmes’s mystery years, it’s an angle nobody’s actually filmed before. Should be crowd-pleasing stuff.'

Meanwhile, Katie Keenan at Sky slipped in some promo talk about Spall being a great fit and plugged a few other shows on their 2027 slate (because why stop at just one pitch when you can do two?).

Sherlock’s Big-Screen Track Record

• Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law starred in Guy Ritchie’s massively successful Sherlock Holmes movies (2009 and 2011), which together cleared over $1 billion globally. Fans have been begging for a third, but scheduling has clobbered any attempts. There was a third movie lined up for 2021, but thanks to the pandemic and everyone being too busy, it’s stuck in development limbo.
• Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman delivered (in my opinion) one of the sharpest Sherlock/Watson pairings in the BBC version from 2010–2017. The series got multiple seasons and more than a few Emmy wins.
• If you prefer your Holmes intentionally terrible, there’s the 2018 Holmes & Watson with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which bombed with only $41.9 million globally and sits at a whopping 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. That one’s best left forgotten.

Why This Matters Now

With over 75 actors having tackled Holmes across film and TV – enough to score a world record – you’d think the well would run dry. But apparently, the three-year gap in Holmes’s story is juicy enough to warrant its own series. If you’re both a Sherlock completionist and the type who likes lesser-known actors stepping up, The Death of Sherlock Holmes is one to watch out for. No confirmed date yet, but Sky has big plans for it.

And hey, maybe this time Holmes will actually get some rest between mysteries. But let’s be honest – probably not.