Director Guy Ritchie says a third ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie is up to Robert Downey Jr.

While promoting his new action comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, director Guy Ritchie gave an update on his hit Sherlock Holmes series: In short, just like in the movies, only Holmes knows.

Ritchie called the shots on both 2009’s hit Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with Robert Downey Jr. playing Holmes to Jude Law‘s Dr. Watson. Both films made over 1 billion bucks at the box office worldwide, so a third installment was technically a no-brainer for Warner Bros.

However, in reality it’s not so elementary, dear Watson.

While it was announced Ritchie was stepping back as director for a third film, with his Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star-turned-Bohemian Rhapsody director Dexter Fletcher taking over, the latter noted to Collider last year that the COVID-19 pandemic “derailed” progress on the threequel.

For his part, Ritchie just told the same website it’s up to Downey to make a third film a reality. “Well, honestly, I left this up to Robert. So, Robert wanted to be in charge of it, so it’s — the ball’s in his court. He’s in charge of the script, he’s in charge of that whole thing, so I’ve moonwalked out of that until there’s a time for me to get involved.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.