New Look at Young Sherlock Shows the Future Detective’s First Encounter With Moriarty | IGN Fan Fest 2026

Archenemies. Bitter rivals. Lifelong friends? The narration betwixt legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his ultimate rival James Moriarty is the worldly of legend. Over the decades (and centuries), the dynamic betwixt the 2 characters has served arsenic the focal constituent of countless literate and on-screen adaptations. They’re the embodiment of bully and evil. Holmes is motivation and just; Moriarty acold and calculating. But the caller streaming bid Young Sherlock, premiering March 4 connected Prime Video, puts a caller twist connected the classical rivalry.

Debuting astatine IGN Fan Fest 2026, a brand-new exclusive clip – which you tin ticker successful the subordinate supra – shows the infinitesimal Sherlock Holmes meets his aboriginal adversary. And if the country doesn’t shriek “soon-to-be foes,” that was by design. I sat down with bid prima Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Harry Potter, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), who plays Sherlock, to speech astir his character’s narration with Moriarty, moving with Guy Ritchie, and what benignant of Sherlock video crippled he’d similar to see.

“Sherlock ever needs a counterpart,” Tiffin says. “It is usually Watson. And successful our story, having it beryllium Moriarty, you recognize they larn truthful overmuch from each other. Enemies who utilized to beryllium friends, that's conscionable a fascinating happening to explore. So it is amusive watching, knowing that this level is going to clang and burn. They person somewhat antithetic approaches, but they inactive person loads of similarities and they marque a large team. Butch and Sundance was a notation that our showrunner utilized a lot.

“I did immoderate chemistry reads with radical auditioning for Moriarty. We met with loads of radical and everyone was really, truly exceptional. And Dónal Finn [who plays Moriarty] came successful and I deliberation astir 5 seconds into his archetypal line, I was like, ‘This feline is going to marque maine look atrocious if I'm not careful.’ He is simply a sensational actor. We person precise antithetic approaches to acting. He's theatre trained, and I've lone done surface acting. We worked a batch of scenes successful prep, making definite that we benignant of decorativeness each other's sentences oregon we sip our portion astatine the aforesaid time, basal up astatine the aforesaid time, beryllium down astatine the aforesaid time. And determination are a fewer small moments wherever we effort to make immoderate benignant of nuanced indications of their synchronicity due to the fact that they are a large team.”

In the series, Sherlock Holmes is acold from the detached and analytical detective we've travel to know. As portrayed by Tiffin, he’s young, inexperienced, and somewhat cheeky. Tiffin says that portion helium wanted to marque the quality his own, helium was decidedly inspired by the renowned actors who’ve played Holmes connected screen.

“Just being a instrumentality I subconsciously digested a batch of Sherlock,” Tiffin says. “Specifically, Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayals. But erstwhile I got the role, I'd already watched the films 2 oregon 3 times, truthful I didn't privation to straight ticker [them] again and gully inspiration and marque notes. I felt similar I'd, successful rather a steadfast wide sense, digested what I needed to earlier getting the role. So erstwhile it came to preparing for the relation of Young Sherlock, it was prep straight correlating to the script.”

Given the almost-superhuman abilities of Sherlock Holmes, it’s casual to see the quality among the ranks of quick-witted superheroes similar Batman, Black Panther, and Iron Man. Tiffin says helium took inspiration from those characters arsenic well.

“it's thing that I've thought astir a lot,” Tiffin says. “When I deliberation astir wherefore radical gravitate towards this character, I deliberation it's due to the fact that helium is arsenic adjacent to being a supernatural quality who isn't a supernatural character. He's arsenic adjacent to being beyond quality successful his capabilities. He’s conscionable tegument and bony the remainder of us, but conscionable an exceptional intelligence person. He’s adjacent to being [a superhero], but he's not. And I deliberation that's what makes him truthful alluring and intriguing.”

Guy Ritchie, who directed Downey Jr. successful 2 Sherlock Holmes movies, serves arsenic Executive Producer of Young Sherlock. Tiffin, who had a relation successful Ritchie 2024’s movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, says moving connected Young Sherlock was the quintessential Guy Ritchie experience.

“When I worked connected The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare, Henry Cavill had 3 pages [of the script] delivered to him astir 20 minutes earlier shooting,” Tiffin says. "There were astir 4 different actors [who] person nary lines successful response. We are conscionable watching and listening, and we were each reasoning ‘better him than me.’ [With Young Sherlock,] it became my turn. There's a country astatine a enactment [where] Guy gave maine a bully 2 oregon 3 pages of dialog with little than fractional an hr to learn, and it was terrifying. But if helium gave you the enactment to conscionable work the lines that you've learned the nighttime before, you would ever prime his. You're successful bully hands. He's asking a batch of you [but] helium helps facilitate by knowing however he's going to edit it. So adjacent if you consciousness similar your acting mightiness instrumentality a hit, you'd inactive privation to bash that. That's the biggest situation with Guy: erstwhile helium hands you dialog past minute. But it's ever for the best.”

Tiffin, who astatine times has been a large instrumentality of Call of Duty and FIFA games, says he’d emotion to spot his mentation of Sherlock Holmes adapted arsenic a video crippled astatine immoderate point.

“Maybe [like an] aboriginal Uncharted game,” Tiffin says. “You've got a premix of action, but you're besides benignant of puzzle solving. [Maybe] aboriginal Prince of Persia, the level versions. I deliberation determination would person to beryllium a batch of occupation solving, I conjecture communicative mode. A azygous subordinate operation of warring and occupation solving. I'd bargain it, I'd play it."

Young Sherlock streams March 4 connected Prime Video.

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment astatine IGN, starring amusement contented and sum of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years moving successful the games and amusement industry, and his adventures person taken him everyplace from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him connected Bluesky @MichaelPeyton