Exclusive: Henry Cavill In Talks To Join Robert Downey Jr. In Sherlock Holmes 3
Henry Cavill may join Robert Downey Jr in the long-delayed third Sherlock Holmes movie.
Former Superman actor Henry Cavill is in discussion to join Robert Downey Jr in his long-delayed third Sherlock Holmes movie. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Witcher star may be part of the cast of the new movie, which is attempting to continue the series of Holmes films starring Downey Jr and Jude Law that kicked off all the way back in 2009. This is just one of many projects that Henry Cavill is currently circling, though it would not be the first time he would be involved in a Sherlock Holmes story.
It is currently unknown what part Henry Cavill is in negotiations for in the next Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes film; obviously, the major roles of Holmes, Watson, Moriarty (Jared Harris), and Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) have been previously filled. Cavill may be looking to take one of his rare villainous roles and we have previously reported that the third film in the series is looking to have its adversary be a “captain of industry” type and will be set in America this time around.
That raises the possibility that Sherlock Holmes 3 will feature Britishman Henry Cavill playing an American industrialist and American Robert Downey Jr playing a British super-genius detective, which just goes to show how fun Hollywood can be.
There is likely a connection that is bringing Henry Cavill and Robert Downey Jr together for Henry Cavill: Guy Ritchie, who directed the first two Holmes films. Although the Gentlemen director is not helming the third film (stepping aside for Dexter Fletcher of Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody), he is still involved as a producer. Ritchie and Cavill worked together previously on 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.LE., which we recently reported as having its own sequel in development.
It also is worth mentioning that Henry Cavill has played Sherlock Holmes in two films, putting him neck-to-neck with Robert Downey Jr in terms of Arthur Conan Doyle action films. Cavill played the legendary detective alongside Millie Bobby Brown for two Netflix Enola Holmes films; while there seem to be plans for another film starring Sherlock and Mycroft’s younger sibling, it seems that Cavill himself is likely not to reprise the role. But if you can’t be in one Holmes-related third movie, why not go for another?
Although multiversal stories are currently all the rage, with Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Flash bringing multiple versions of the same characters into a single story, we sadly doubt that is the case this time around. While we would love it if both Henry Cavill and Robert Downey Jr were playing two Sherlock Holmes variants who come into contact via some Victorian steampunk parallel reality experiment, that is likely just something for our fan fiction.
Sherlock Holmes 3 is also not the only project that Henry Cavill is in talks for, with the actor looking into everything from his own Warhammer 40,000 project for Amazon Studios to joining Sony Pictures to play a Spider-Man variant. We’ll have to see what he actually ends up locking down.
