‘Young Sherlock’ Showrunner Promises Answers for the Finale Key Reveal That “Opens Up a Whole New World”

Dónal Finn Loved Getting the Opportunity To Explore James Moriarty’s Friendship With Sherlock Holmes

"No one is born evil."

Collider: I’m such a consumer of all things Sherlock Holmes, and I really loved this series. We really get to see and know sides of Moriarty that we don’t typically get to see in Sherlock Holmes stories because he’s already the villain. Dónal, what did you find most fun and most challenging about getting to explore James Moriarty so deeply?

DÓNAL FINN: It was probably not making him a villain, which I think is a far richer, over-arching story for this person, which is to say, investigating him as a great friend, an ambitious young man, and someone who hides hardships. Those things inform the way that he sees the world. That allowed all the truth about what we know about Moriarty to be there in an undercurrent way. No one is born evil. So, I think it’s about understanding the events that happened to him that make him see the world how he sees it. And he’s got to fight to have his place in it. Those are the things that were my favorite things to investigate.

Matthew, what did you enjoy most about getting to explore that relationship between these two men? I’ve always enjoyed Moriarty as the villain, but I think this is the first time I’ve actually cared about who he is as a character.

FINN: That’s what we want.

MATTHEW PARKHILL: It’s interesting because he’s only in one story. He’s only in “The Final Problem.” I think he’s mentioned in four, but he’s only in one. When I started this, I was always interested in the idea of, why does he become such an iconic villain, and why was he such a nemesis for Sherlock? That’s where the idea started to come from. What if they were once great friends who fall out and then become great enemies? I was just really fascinated by that dynamic. I love Butch and Sundance. I know Guy [Ritchie] loves Butch and Sundance. My first conversation ever with Guy about this, we talked about Butch and Sundance. I love the idea of this incredible friendship that at some point will turn sour, and they’ll turn into incredible rivals.

James Moriatry Knows Exactly How To Get Under the Skin of Sherlock Holmes in ‘Young Sherlock’

"Moriarty performs this oblivious nonchalance to what's happening."

I was absolutely delighted by the scene in episode six, when Sherlock asks Moriarty to stop flirting with his mother, and Moriarty continues to poke at him a little bit. How did that moment come about?

PARKHILL: There’s a great line, that’s Dónal’s line at the end of that, when he says, “I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating biscuits.” That’s a great line.

Dónal, what did you think of that scene when you read it? What was it like to play that moment? It’s just such a fun moment.

FINN: Yeah, it was a really good crack. One of my favorite bits of that sequence is that Moriarty performs this oblivious nonchalance to what’s happening. So, when he comes out of the carriage to meet Sherlock, he’s whistling and I just think it’s so funny. He says, “Will you stop?” And even when he does that, he continues to whistle a little bit.

PARKHILL: This guy knows how to get under Sherlock’s skin. That’s what’s funny about it.

FINN: It’s also this performed obliviousness of, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Me and your mom just get on so well. Why would you not let me be friends with your mother?”

PARKHILL: That’s such a lovely scene, and I love that you picked up on that. My take is that I don’t think Moriarty can help it.

FINN: Yeah.

PARKHILL: It’s like in episode five when you go to the door, and you’re investigating. “If I could be anyone, I’d be James Moriarty,” he says. I don’t think he can help himself.

FINN: I think in that moment, he uses it as a tact to get what he wants, and it is a means to an end of solving this mystery. But with Sherlock’s mom, he’s someone who doesn’t like to be bored, and he thinks this is entertaining to Sherlock’s mom, to Sherlock, and to himself.

‘Young Sherlock’ Showrunner Matthew Parkhill Has a Plan for Season 2 and Beyond

"We hope the fans love it and adopt it, and we will keep going."

Matthew, what is the plan beyond these episodes? Do you have a set number of seasons in mind for the story you’re telling?

PARKHILL: I do. And we’ve got some Amazon representatives in the room, so I need to say that loud and clear, but I do. I’ve got it figured out beyond Season 2. I sort of know where it ends. When I started this, I was like, “If we’re lucky enough to keep going, this is where I want to take it.” I’ve got a Season 2 in my head already, in quite a lot of detail. There seems to be a lot of love for the show, which is incredibly gratifying for us. We hope the fans love it and adopt it, and we will keep going, making them happy, hopefully.

I feel like I need to know what this key unlocks now. You have to at least give me that.

PARKHILL: I cannot give you that. But I love that, at the end. It opens up a whole new world. I love that scene at the end, I have to say. It’s one of my favorite scenes. Just when you think you’ve come to the end, that scene is a test of the friendship. It’s a test of trust. I remember when we were shooting that in Jerez in southern Spain, and when he did that take, and he does that little tiny smile at the end, I said to him, “That’s the last beat of the show.” I’m glad you picked up on that. If we get to go again, you will get your answer. I won’t tell you what it is because it will ruin Season 2 for you.

While Dónal Finn Is Grateful for ‘The Wheel of Time,’ the Cancellation Led to Playing James Moriarty

​​​​​​​"It just gave me friendships that have lasted beyond the show."

Dónal, I want to also take a minute to ask you about The Wheel of Time. What was it like for you personally to deal with the cancellation of that series, especially with it being such a shocking decision? How do you find closure when something like that happens?

FINN: Interesting question. When I reflect on that time, there were about five of us, when I joined in Season 2, that were young actors. It was an amazing, huge job for all of us, and I think we were all at similar points of recognizing what an amazing opportunity it was and where we were in our careers. We were living in another country. We were living in the Czech Republic. We formed this community that I’m still really close and connected to. It just gave me friendships that have lasted beyond the show. And so, when I look back on it, I’m just really grateful for it. It was an amazing time for me, in my life and my career. It’s nothing but joy and gratitude.

PARKHILL: I know this won’t help The Wheel of Time fans, of which there are many, obviously, but if that hadn’t happened, we never would have gotten Dónal to play Moriarty.

FINN: Yeah, exactly. When God closes the door, he opens the window. This is a pretty big window.

I love the moment in episode seven when Moriarty goes from holding the gun in the back of the Princess, or Shou’an, to putting it in her hand and telling her to shoot Silas Holmes. That whole moment was just brilliant. How did that come about? What was that like to shoot? It felt like one of those scenes that has to play out exactly right, or you just have to keep doing it again and again.

FINN: Yeah. We were blessed with some pretty amazing scripts. When we read that, it made total sense with what was going to happen. And then, actually doing it, we realized how specific each beat had to be. You’re sharing your attention across a courtyard where there were five or six characters, so that sequence of events, when we rehearsed, had to be so clear. That episode really reminds me of Ocean’s 11, with another sequence that’s in a restaurant. I was always thinking about that film when we were doing that because there’s so much style and ease to what those guys do. But also, it’s an incredibly complicated sequence of events that lets the guys in Ocean’s 11 dupe the MGM Grand or the Bellagio, or whatever it was.

PARKHILL: That scene is interesting. I remember that so clearly because it’s so much about logistics. I know that it’s going to cut to this, and then it’s going to cut to this. It might be a weird feeling for the actor because you’re going, “I feel like I’m hanging in mid-air for a second,” but I know that there are all these things happening in different places in the courtyard. Blocking that became incredibly about logistics.

FINN: It was also about matching performance to what’s happening to you internally and to what the audience knows right now. With that sequence, there’s a sense of duality, or a mask on top of a mask. We’re presenting something to our antagonist to get them to trust us and then reverting that. It sounds very complicated, but it was complicated. I think it pays off as well.

PARKHILL: It’s a great ending in episode seven. We always knew that was coming and, obviously, it’s one of the biggest reveals. We shot that in Jerez in this beautiful square. Thomas Burton, our production designer, gave us that market with all those animals. It was just incredible to walk into that. You didn’t have to imagine anything, did you?

FINN: Not at all. It made our jobs very easy that so much of it was realized. It’s one of the great blessings when the production design and all the departments on the crew are operating at this incredible level where you go onto set and there’s very little imaginative work left for you to do as an actor because it’s all realized around you.

I love those sorts of moments that feel like a small moment, but there’s really so much more going on, and there’s a lot of that throughout the season.

PARKHILL: Thank you. Thank you so much. And I will give you an answer about the key in about a year’s time.

I will hold you to that.

Young Sherlock is available to stream on Prime Video.