[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Watson series premiere.]
Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut), you’re going to want to keep a close eye on the man closest to you! The Watson series premiere ended with the reveal of who’s playing Moriarty — Randall Park! — when Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster), Watson and Sherlock Holmes’ friend who now works as an administrator at the clinic, meets with him.
The episode begins at Reichenbach Falls, with Watson following Sherlock and Moriarty in the water. Only he emerges. After he recovers (mostly), he opens up the clinic with the money Sherlock left him. The premiere introduces the team of fellows working with him, begins touching on his complicated relationship with his ex-wife Mary (Rochelle Aytes), who has moved on and is his boss, and shows that he’s still feeling the effects of going into the water.
Below, executive producer Craig Sweeny talks about casting Randall Park as the iconic villain, what’s going on with Shinwell, the long-term effects on Watson, and more.
Talk about casting Randall Park as Moriarty.
Craig Sweeny: I had a preexisting relationship with Randall. Not deep, but enough that I had his number and he had read the script and I texted him and said, “Why don’t you play Moriarty?” And he instantly was interested. It just kind of happened very quickly. I like the idea of taking — he’s more or less the friendliest man in the world. So I like to ask the question, what kind of sinister thing might lie beneath that, that sort of veneer of pleasantness? How do you make Randall Park evil? It’s a fun problem as writer.
What did you want to do with Moriarty’s introduction?
I wanted to shock and surprise and provoke and get you to watch the rest of the season.
When did you know you wanted to be Shinwell who had that connection to Moriarty?
I knew that pretty early. The character of Shinwell has always interested me in canon and we used Shinwell in Elementary, which I also wrote for, in a very different context. But I knew I wanted somebody from that world kind of around the clinic. Shinwell jumped into my head right away.
What can you say about those samples?
Watson is a geneticist, so those samples are samples of DNA taken from the clinic, and Moriarty has a very specific and medically accurate plan for those samples that is the big story of the season.
What can you say about the extent of what Shinwell is caught up in whatever this is? Because it doesn’t seem like it’s by choice, right?
No, Shinwell is not betraying Watson out of passion for betraying Watson. He is caught on the horns of a very, very savage dilemma that plays itself out over the course of the season.
How tough of a pill is it to swallow when Watson finds out? Does any part of him understand because of what he’s caught up in?
As with any kind of immense news like that, he sort of processes it in stages, and his first reaction is to push Shinwell away from him — I was just looking at that scene today. But over time, he does come to sort of understand, at least to be able to track the why of it in a way that makes sense for him. And there is the possibility of that relationship surviving into Season 2.
Colin Bentley / CBS
We know that Watson is still very much affected by what happened to him when he followed Sherlock and Moriarty into the water. What can you say about how that’s going to play out and any long-term effects?
Well, he has a very serious traumatic brain injury, and that’s going to be a major plot point in the season. He’s self-medicating, and Moriarty’s ability to monkey with those medications is a very important thing as we advance through the season.
Mary tells Watson he’s never met her, referring to her new relationship. What can you say about that new relationship for Mary?
It’s somebody that she’s involved with who is in their orbit in the hospital, and the relationship is a source of solace for her, but it’s tension between her and Watson.
Watson mentions Gregson in the premiere. How much are we going to be hearing about Scotland Yard and its inspectors and possibly seeing anyone?
We never see Gregson in Season 1. Gregson is out there. Lestrade, in our universe, is a detective in Pittsburgh, and they meet in Episode 10 of our season and collaborate in a case. And that’s very much going to be an ongoing relationship.
Watson, Regular Time Period Premiere, Sunday, February 16, 9/8c, CBS
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
