Sherlock & Daughter creative team wants to go international in potential second season
Sherlock & Daughter is among the nominated series for the Golden Nymph award at this year's Monte-Carlo TV Festival. The series, which premiered earlier this year on The CW and Max to strong numbers, presents a Sherlock Holmes unlike any seen before—an aging (described as a "lion in winter" by the creators), world-weary genius (played with razor-sharp precision by David Thewlis) whose carefully ordered existence is upended by the arrival of Amelia Rojas (Blu Hunt), a spirited young Native American woman who claims to be his daughter.
Part of the cast and the creative team behind the Golden Nymph nominee production made a high-profile appearance on Sunday at the Festival, offering insight into the emotional heart of the series, teasing plans for its future, and reflecting on the overwhelmingly positive response to its debut season. In attendance at the press conference were writer-creator and executive producer Brendan Foley, actress Fiona Glascott (Lady Violet in the series), writer Shelly Goldstein, and Karine Martin, CEO of production company Starlings Entertainment. Blu Hunt is also at the Festival and revealed to journalists details about her experience shooting the series. Starlings Entertainment produces the series with Albion Television and StoryFirst. As TVBIZZ reported the series bolted out of the gate last week in its streaming debut on Max, reaching as high as the 4 spot on its in-app top-10 rail, while simultaneously scoring season-best ratings on its U.S. network home, The CW.
Taking on Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character, one that refuses to fade, was a “double-edged sword” for creator Brendan Foley. “I don’t think anyone should do it lightly, because you have 20,000 different versions of Sherlock. There’s always a percentage of the audience who’d be absolute purists, and a percentage who haven’t read a word of Conan Doyle and knows Holmes from his 101 iterations. We’re appealing to quite a large audience, including a very mainstream U.S. audience who enjoys wrestling and NASCAR and so on and so that's quite a broad church to keep on board,” he joked. “A few people will always say oh, you’ve ruined it. It’s always a good piece of advice not to read the comments, but we went from people saying: ‘I’m sure this will be terrible’ to ‘well, it wasn’t too bad.’ That was a lovely thing, to see that evolution, but you can’t be all things to all people. We decided that our Sherlock is an absolutely classic Sherlock, but is also a lion and winter, so he's an older grumpier Sherlock, he's pretty much the classic character.” “Sherlock Holmes is classically an unemotional character in the stories, but he’s also a big experimenter,” Brendan Foley also said. “So, is it possible that just once in that great experimenter’s life, he might have thought, what’s all this human emotion stuff about? I’d better try it.” On experimenting, Foley added: "You have to be true to the original stories and the spirit, but you also have to give people something new.”
When asked why they opted for a daughter in the series rather than a son, the team decided that giving Holmes a daughter would be “harder for Sherlock.” “It’s a big challenge. Amelia is very much her own woman; she’s got that American sensibility and comes from an extraordinarily different culture. She’s absolutely the last thing he would be prepared to deal with,” Goldstein noted.
In terms of having many shows exploring the Holmes universe, including US series Watson which had its French premiere at the Festival's opening gala and is set in modern day Pittsburg and focuses on medical mysteries, Karine Martin, CEO of Starlings Entertainment, which produced the series with Albion Television and StoryFirst said she was concerned. “There’s been so many great Sherlocks. But once the scripts started coming in, and once we saw our characters, we firmly felt this would really fill a space that hadn’t been taken yet. The idea of the father-daughter dynamic was something unusual to explore, and then there’s the fact she’s Native American. We wanted to draw into that culture.” Goldstein added: “When you think of recent Sherlocks, they’re all kind of wonderful. Young, on the go, learning the ropes and breaking the rules. That’s not our Sherlock. He’s done it all. He’s done every case. He’s always 12 steps ahead of everybody else, but things are changing. Technology is changing, crime, class. It’s fun watching these little worlds collide while they’re trying to solve very intense crimes. And there are also crimes of the heart. Are you my daughter...”
The team remains hopeful for a second season—and more stories to explore in their expanding Holmes-verse. “They (new ideas) would just come popping out, and there were far too many for just eight episodes. If the fates are good to us, there are so many wonderful stories to be told with these characters,” writer Shelly Goldstein said at the festival. Foley added that “I think we’d like to take it international. At the end of the 19th century, society is moving from criminals robbing banks to criminals owning banks. Crime is blissfully international. I’d like to see what’s happening in the U.S., Europe, Australia at the same time.”
Blu Hunt also talked to journalists about her role as Sherlock Holmes' daughter Amelia. Her journey to playing Amelia Rojas (later revealed as Amelia Holmes) in Sherlock & Daughter was anything but straightforward. The actress revealed at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival that she was attached to the project for nearly a year before production finally moved forward—just as she was considering another role. "I was about to do a different show, and then they called the day I was deciding," Hunt recalled. "They said, ‘We’re doing the show, we have David Thewlis as Sherlock,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, never mind the other show—I’m doing Sherlock now.’" The long wait was worth it, she said, especially given the chance to work with Thewlis, whom she called "one of the greatest actors to ever live." She added, "Without David, the show has no legs. He carries every single thing he’s in."
Hunt was drawn to Amelia’s unique place in the Sherlock Holmes universe—a bold, Native American woman navigating Victorian England and commented that introducing a character like Amelia in that universe was really fun. She admitted she didn’t do extensive historical research, partly because Amelia’s existence in that era is itself unconventional. "There’s no character like her in history that I could base her on, so I had to start from scratch," she said. Amelia’s American roots and Indigenous background also bring a fresh dynamic to the crime-solving duo. "She doesn’t care about English social niceties, so she can get information in ways Sherlock can’t. That’s part of the fun."
Working with Thewlis was a highlight for Hunt, who described their contrasting approaches as mirroring their characters. "David is very studious meticulous—he had the whole script memorized before we started, and I was still learning lines the night before," she laughed. "But Amelia is more impulsive, so that energy worked." She also reflected on Amelia’s growth throughout the season, noting that while the character starts off idealistic, she gradually realizes she’s more like Sherlock than she’d admit. "She’s not perfect at all—she can be arrogant, even a little mean—but that’s what makes her interesting." For Hunt, the show’s heart lies in its generational and cultural clashes. "It’s about family, about loving your parents even when they disappoint you. And for young viewers, especially girls, seeing a woman like Amelia in this world? That’s exciting."
Taking on Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character, one that refuses to fade, was a “double-edged sword” for creator Brendan Foley. “I don’t think anyone should do it lightly, because you have 20,000 different versions of Sherlock. There’s always a percentage of the audience who’d be absolute purists, and a percentage who haven’t read a word of Conan Doyle and knows Holmes from his 101 iterations. We’re appealing to quite a large audience, including a very mainstream U.S. audience who enjoys wrestling and NASCAR and so on and so that's quite a broad church to keep on board,” he joked. “A few people will always say oh, you’ve ruined it. It’s always a good piece of advice not to read the comments, but we went from people saying: ‘I’m sure this will be terrible’ to ‘well, it wasn’t too bad.’ That was a lovely thing, to see that evolution, but you can’t be all things to all people. We decided that our Sherlock is an absolutely classic Sherlock, but is also a lion and winter, so he's an older grumpier Sherlock, he's pretty much the classic character.” “Sherlock Holmes is classically an unemotional character in the stories, but he’s also a big experimenter,” Brendan Foley also said. “So, is it possible that just once in that great experimenter’s life, he might have thought, what’s all this human emotion stuff about? I’d better try it.” On experimenting, Foley added: "You have to be true to the original stories and the spirit, but you also have to give people something new.”
When asked why they opted for a daughter in the series rather than a son, the team decided that giving Holmes a daughter would be “harder for Sherlock.” “It’s a big challenge. Amelia is very much her own woman; she’s got that American sensibility and comes from an extraordinarily different culture. She’s absolutely the last thing he would be prepared to deal with,” Goldstein noted.
In terms of having many shows exploring the Holmes universe, including US series Watson which had its French premiere at the Festival's opening gala and is set in modern day Pittsburg and focuses on medical mysteries, Karine Martin, CEO of Starlings Entertainment, which produced the series with Albion Television and StoryFirst said she was concerned. “There’s been so many great Sherlocks. But once the scripts started coming in, and once we saw our characters, we firmly felt this would really fill a space that hadn’t been taken yet. The idea of the father-daughter dynamic was something unusual to explore, and then there’s the fact she’s Native American. We wanted to draw into that culture.” Goldstein added: “When you think of recent Sherlocks, they’re all kind of wonderful. Young, on the go, learning the ropes and breaking the rules. That’s not our Sherlock. He’s done it all. He’s done every case. He’s always 12 steps ahead of everybody else, but things are changing. Technology is changing, crime, class. It’s fun watching these little worlds collide while they’re trying to solve very intense crimes. And there are also crimes of the heart. Are you my daughter...”
The team remains hopeful for a second season—and more stories to explore in their expanding Holmes-verse. “They (new ideas) would just come popping out, and there were far too many for just eight episodes. If the fates are good to us, there are so many wonderful stories to be told with these characters,” writer Shelly Goldstein said at the festival. Foley added that “I think we’d like to take it international. At the end of the 19th century, society is moving from criminals robbing banks to criminals owning banks. Crime is blissfully international. I’d like to see what’s happening in the U.S., Europe, Australia at the same time.”
Blu Hunt also talked to journalists about her role as Sherlock Holmes' daughter Amelia. Her journey to playing Amelia Rojas (later revealed as Amelia Holmes) in Sherlock & Daughter was anything but straightforward. The actress revealed at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival that she was attached to the project for nearly a year before production finally moved forward—just as she was considering another role. "I was about to do a different show, and then they called the day I was deciding," Hunt recalled. "They said, ‘We’re doing the show, we have David Thewlis as Sherlock,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, never mind the other show—I’m doing Sherlock now.’" The long wait was worth it, she said, especially given the chance to work with Thewlis, whom she called "one of the greatest actors to ever live." She added, "Without David, the show has no legs. He carries every single thing he’s in."
Hunt was drawn to Amelia’s unique place in the Sherlock Holmes universe—a bold, Native American woman navigating Victorian England and commented that introducing a character like Amelia in that universe was really fun. She admitted she didn’t do extensive historical research, partly because Amelia’s existence in that era is itself unconventional. "There’s no character like her in history that I could base her on, so I had to start from scratch," she said. Amelia’s American roots and Indigenous background also bring a fresh dynamic to the crime-solving duo. "She doesn’t care about English social niceties, so she can get information in ways Sherlock can’t. That’s part of the fun."
Working with Thewlis was a highlight for Hunt, who described their contrasting approaches as mirroring their characters. "David is very studious meticulous—he had the whole script memorized before we started, and I was still learning lines the night before," she laughed. "But Amelia is more impulsive, so that energy worked." She also reflected on Amelia’s growth throughout the season, noting that while the character starts off idealistic, she gradually realizes she’s more like Sherlock than she’d admit. "She’s not perfect at all—she can be arrogant, even a little mean—but that’s what makes her interesting." For Hunt, the show’s heart lies in its generational and cultural clashes. "It’s about family, about loving your parents even when they disappoint you. And for young viewers, especially girls, seeing a woman like Amelia in this world? That’s exciting."
