‘Watson’ Drama With Morris Chestnut a Go at CBS

Lesley Goldberg
·2 min read
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CBS is sort of returning to the world of Sherlock Holmes.

The Paramount Global-backed broadcast network has handed out a series order for Watson, a medical drama revolving around Dr. John Watson a year after the death of his friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes. Morris Chestnut will star as Watson and exec produce the series, which was first put in development a year ago at the network.

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“We are thrilled to feature such a beloved character from the world of Sherlock Holmes at the center of this series and have it brought to life by Morris Chestnut in a fresh and unexpected take on the immortal doctor,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “Craig Sweeny’s bold new vision for the complex Dr. Watson deftly interweaves rich character storytelling with edge-of-your-seat medical mysteries.”

Elementary alum Sweeny serves as showrunner and wrote the pilot. He exec produces alongside Chestnut, Shäron Moalem, Aaron Kaplan and Brian Morewitz for Kapital Entertainment. Larry Teng will executive produce and direct the pilot.

Watson is described as a medical show in which Watson resumes his career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. Moriarty (who killed Holmes) will be a prominent character in the series that CBS says features a “modern version of one of history’s greatest detectives as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries.”

The drama is earmarked for the 2024-25 broadcast season. CBS put the script in development in January 2023 as part of its year-round development model when it opened up a writers room for both Watson and the NAACP-produced hourlong The Pact, which remains in contention.

Sweeny’s Elementary ran for seven seasons and more than 150 episodes with Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson and Natalie Dormer as Jamie Moriarty. Like Watson, the show was produced in house at CBS Studios.

Watson marks the third show earmarked for the 2024-25 broadcast season and joins Matlock and multicamera comedy Poppa’s House. Both Matlock and Poppa’s House were developed during the 2023 pilot season and were pushed until the following season as a result of production delays caused by last year’s dual strikes.

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