‘Watson’ Boss Talks Moriarty’s Fate, Watson’s Shocking Decision & What’s Ahead in Season 2

Sergei Bachlakov / CBS

What can you say about how Watson is going to be dealing with that?

It really challenges his conception of who he is and what he’s capable of. And I think you’ll see it particularly in the season premiere. We’re doing a lot of new narrative stuff in Season 2. It’s not all about looking back on what happened. But I think he does enter the season with a sense that I might not know myself as well as I thought I did, even though he probably wouldn’t do it differently. I think he’s really shaken and rattled by it and it’s affecting the way he’s dealing with the people around him.

You had said that you didn’t know from the beginning that you’d have Moriarty die at the end of the season. At what point during the season did you figure that out?

Relatively early. I’m thinking a lot because we did a so-called mini room beforehand, and then we gathered the writers. So there are almost like two versions of Season 1. When we got into the plot mechanics, I would say within the first few weeks of gathering the room, we committed to that choice.

What did you want to do with that scene in the hospital room with Watson staying with Moriarty and then taking that moment after he’s dead?

I mean, I wanted, primarily, to provide a really satisfying head-to-head between those two characters that hopefully the audiences really wanted. And to reveal the choice Watson made, but also show him wrestle with it, and to hopefully create our own iconic moment within the extended Conan Doyle universe. You can’t really sit down and say, I’m going to write an iconic moment, but it’s a confrontation. Well, I guess what I really like about that scene is it’s a confrontation that’s also really intimate, between a doctor and a patient, and Watson functions in the scene as both Moriarty’s interrogator and his doctor. He stays with him, he sits with him, he holds his hand while he dies. So it’s those contrasts, I think, that make it a scene that works so well for me. And of course, the great performances from Randall and Morris.

It was such a good scene. Could we see Moriarty in Season 2 haunting Watson?

I definitely wouldn’t rule it out. I mean, definitely the act will haunt Watson and you’d be a fool to say, I would never allow Randall Park to act in our show. I mean, I would love to see him again.

I’m so glad that you cast him because it’s so different than what we’re used to seeing him play.

Thank you. Yeah, it’s been rewarding to see people coming around to that opinion. That was why it was so appealing to me because he was exactly, it’s the ultimate casting against type. So if that’s working for viewers, I love that. That’s great. That was what made it really fun to try to tackle.

So the two-week time jump reveals things are going well for Watson and Laila. So what can you say about that relationship and what is it about Laila that Watson may be ready to move on from Mary (Rochelle Aytes)?

The events of the finale are kind of relationship accelerants on several fronts. I think we created these circumstances where all these emotions were so close to the surface for everybody and you also get to see what people are like in those moments where you’re making really life-altering choices. You reveal who you are, who you are at your core. And so I think Watson, because of the events of the finale, had this chance to see this is an extraordinary person, and he was more open to it than he might otherwise have been. And I think when Mary kind of nudged him in that direction, it also said something to him about, oh, maybe we need to continue to work on defining what exactly this is, but it’s not moving towards what I might have hoped or thought.

Sergei Bachlakov / CBS

But it does seem like every time there’s a scene with Mary and Watson, there’s that undercurrent of what they could possibly have again. So how are you approaching that going forward?

Well, it’s a time-honored TV writing problem when you have performers with chemistry. We’re working on ways to sort of test that relationship going forward and to put Watson and Mary in circumstances where they’re forced to make choices that define what it is to each of them, who they can be for each other. You know what we do always try to approach it like everybody is an adult with jobs they love and not have characters act in soapy ways, and we’ll continue to take that approach, but they really are going to have to define who they are to each other in a more meaningful way in Season 2. And that’s going to really be placed under a profound challenge in that season as well.

And I think they’re also going to face the challenge of, there’s undeniably love there between those characters. What kind of love it is, I don’t think they know yet, but to the other people in their lives, what does that mean? It’s one thing to say, I used to be married, but then to say I used to be married, and also she works where I work. I used to be married and also she works where I work and we talk every day. I used to be married and also she works where I work and we talk every day and we’re in a murder conspiracy together. I mean, they’re very, very bonded to each other and that’s going to be a challenge really for the people that they try to bring into their lives as well.

So Watson packs up the Always and Everywhere shirt into the Holmes box that he puts under the bed. Is that closing the chapter at least for now on that part of his story?

It’s not closing the chapter on the influence of Holmes in Watson’s life and on the presence of elements of the story of the show. We’re definitely not trying to say like we’re just a doctor show, not that there’s anything wrong with just a doctor show. But the Sherlockian elements will continue on in the show. It is closing the box that he opened in the premiere —there’s very much opened this open question of I upended my life by going on this journey to catch Moriarty and it failed and I lost my best friend in doing it. And he has created a new ending to that story, and that’s what that moment at the end of the finale symbolizes.

Now that you’ve seemingly taken Moriarty off the board, will the next villain be someone from Sherlock Holmes cannon or someone new? Because I’m thinking Culverton Smith, Charles Augustus Milverton, those could be really interesting characters to bring in.

Yes. So what I like about our plan in Season 2 is that we’re definitely not saying that no more villains from the Holmes universe appear, but we are creating a paradigm that includes Conan Doyle’s world without saying the premise is always what villain appears this year. So there is a really strong Holmesian storyline, but our plan is not to say, oh, this is Gruner or Milverton. Not to say that we won’t do that in time, but we wanted to sort of open up the paradigm of a new kind of storytelling within that universe in Season 2. So that’s our approach there.

Stephens says he can’t work with Ingrid anymore, and she packs up her stuff. First of all, she did seemingly choose the Sherlock side or at least the not-Moriarty side of which way she’d end up. But could losing her job at the clinic change that? What would you say about which side she’s on at the end of the finale?

It is a great question. I think she has a very good argument. I mean, the character will continue on in the show, but if I were her, I would say to Watson, your big question was, am I more like Holmes or am I more like Moriarty? And I answered that for you and you fired me, middle finger up. There’s an argument that she could be very upset. That said, where that makes her land, I think the question I want to explore with Ingrid in Season 2 is can this character change? When she does something that appears to be unselfish, can somebody with her diagnosis, is that actually because they’ve changed at their core? Or is it just a form of masking? And we’re going to dive really deeply into that question as Ingrid attempts to answer for herself, can I actually be the kind of person I seem to be during the finale when she was choosing the Holmes side.

Will Watson ever trust Shinwell (Ritchie Coster) like he used to?

I don’t think he ever can trust him like he used to, but I do think he can come to a working accommodation with what happened. It obviously wouldn’t have been possible to do that without Shinwell’s extraordinary willingness to sacrifice himself. I mean, Shinwell certainly proved — he had his reasons to do what he did, not that it excuses it, but then he readily acknowledged his faults and was willing to do anything at all to make up for them. And so I think when you’ve committed a wrong, even a profound wrong, and you try to address it by starting in that place of absolute humility, yes, I do think there is a version of that friendship that can proceed.

Stephens and Sasha could have easily been a slow burn over more than one season. Why not do that?

That’s a great question. Part of it is you get caught up in the accelerant events of the finale. It felt like the right choice. It felt like they were forced to confront who they could be for each other in this really profound way. And so it felt true. But yeah, it was an acceleration on our part too, beyond what our original plans were.

So they were originally going to be like a slow burn for multiple seasons?

Yeah, it’s not like we ever signed a contract that said that, but we first have the idea, it’s like, yeah, these characters seem pretty far apart and they have a lot of learning to do to be the best versions of themselves, and that’s when you would want them to get together. But we sort of got there quicker than we thought.

Is everyone going to be back in the same capacity as series regulars?

Yes, you will see everybody back.

Are there any Sherlock Holmes characters that you’ll be introducing in Season 2 that you can talk about? Will we see Gregson after you just mentioned Gregson as a character?

There will be, yes. But I don’t want to do any reveals just yet. This is not a reveal, but I am excited that we have, I really love the performer who plays Lestrade on our show, and I’m excited to explore that relationship more in Season 2.

Oh, that was so fun.

Yeah, she really drew out the funny side of Morris. They were just such a delight to watch together. That was fun to see.

Would Stephens and Adam have been able to get to the better place they’re in by the end of the finale if not for what they were put through?

No, I don’t think so. There might’ve been another extreme event that might have gotten us there, but no, I think something of this magnitude was kind of called for.

What else can you tease about Season 2?

Hopefully, our intention is to create a really inventive take on how to draw the Sherlock universe into the show that goes deep into Watson’s character. I think you’re going to see a profound testing of the Watson and Mary relationship. We’re going to learn more about each of those characters’ backstories and their families and their history together. You’re going to see Sasha and Stephens in a surprising new light at the very beginning of the season. You’re going to see Adam forced to confront his ambitions and his own future at the clinic. And you’re going to see Ingrid wrestle with the possibility of if she can change. All against some great science, I mean, hey, who doesn’t want to watch that?

Watson, Season 2, 2026, CBS