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Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The Resident, The Enemy Within and Boyz N the Hood alum Morris Chestnut has signed on to star in Watson, a contemporary CBS medical mystery drama with roots in Sherlock Holmes lore. Chestnut will play John Watson, a doctor who resumes his medical career after the death of his sleuthing partner, Sherlock Holmes, at the hands of the criminal mastermind, Moriarty.
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"We are thrilled to feature such a beloved character from the world of Sherlock Holmes at the center of this series and have it brought to life by Morris Chestnut in a fresh and unexpected take on the immortal doctor," Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement Wednesday.
"Craig Sweeny's bold new vision for the complex Dr. Watson deftly interweaves rich character storytelling with edge-of-your-seat medical mysteries."
Nancy Drew and Elementary director Larry Teng is to direct and executive produce the first episode for the series, which is expected to premiere during the 2024-25 broadcast season.
No other casting has been announced yet.
Watson and Holmes remain popular characters more than 100 years after they were imagined by author Arthur Conan Doyle.
Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch played the private detectives in the BBC series, Sherlock, from 2010 to 2017, while Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller played the roles in the CBS drama, Elementary, which aired 2012-2019.
Jude Law played Watson to Robert Downey Jr.'s Holmes in the 2009 movie, Sherlock Holmes, and its 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
