Morris Chestnut Talks ‘Watson’, Sherlock Holmes Mythology, Moriarty & Creating The Right Atmosphere On Set At Cannes Premiere — MIPCOM
Morris Chestnut hit Cannes on Sunday for the world premiere of Watson, his CBS procedural. Before the screening, he sat down with Deadline to talk about the show.
The action moves from Baker Street, London to modern-day Pittsburgh in Watson and the story picks up events after Moriarty has killed Sherlock Holmes as the focus shifts to medical mysteries.
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“Watson really learned a lot from Holmes and so what he’s going to do is bring in the detective aspect of what he’s learned from working with him,” Chestnut said. “We’re basically medical detectives.”
Paramount Global Content Distribution is shopping the show to buyers in Cannes. Craig Sweeny wrote the premiere episode of the series and serves as showrunner and executive producer. Chestnut is also an EP.
As an actor, Chestnut steps into a role that has been played by many performers before him. The difference this time is it’s Watson in the spotlight. “All the movies and TV shows primarily focused on Holmes, and Watson is a very complimentary character,” he said. “This is Watson front and center, and it’s told from Watson’s perspective and a medical investigation perspective. That’s what makes it different.”
The series starts as Holmes’ life ends at the hands of Moriarty. Does Holmes and Watson’s arch enemy show up? Chestnut is coy but teases that the iconic adversary may have a role to play. “I will say this: Moriarty is the nemesis and is a very challenging Nemesis to dispose of. When you have someone with that type of intent and that’s hard to get rid of, he pops up, you know.”
Wearing his exec producer hat, Chestnut told Deadline about the team’s conscious effort to create a harmonious set.
“It’s already stressful enough to do your job, but it really makes it even more stressful when you’re working around people who make it tougher,” he explained. “It was one of the things that when I met with Craig, when we had our first lunch, we talked about. We were on the same page – we both said we want to create a set and environment to where, first and foremost, we have good people. Yes, we want people who are talented, but we also don’t want a person who’s talented but toxic.”
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