We’ll kick of Sherlock Saturday with a What If… Several shows over the years have created spin-offs with varying degrees of success, but what of the shows we could have gotten, one could argue should have gotten, but didn’t? For example, I offer you the idea of Natalie Dormer starring in a show centered around criminal mastermind Jamie Moriarty. One of the most interesting versions of the character we’ve ever seen, combining both Irene Adler and Professor James Moriarty into a single nemesis to rival, and emotionally torture, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), she was the woman.
There are two obvious places to set the series. First during Holmes’ absence and presumed death which took place near the end of the final season of Elementary. With Holmes out of sight, and forced to stay out of the limelight, perhaps Moriarty pounced on the opportunity to revive and grow her vast criminal enterprise. Does she believe Holmes is dead? Does she mourn him? Or does she secretly suspect he’s alive and has agents hunting for him (allowing for a separate thread to play out over the course of the series)?
The other possibility is to set the show after Elementary‘s finale with Holmes and Watson (Lucy Liu) back working again as consulting detectives for the NYPD and Moriarty apparently dead. Does she take a page from Holmes’ book and use a faked death to return to the shadows, avoid any lingering legal entanglements, and rebuild her empire? The daughter introduced could also have grown into a young woman either dimly aware of her mother’s true vocation or a steady hand helping her run the empire.
In either case we get a terrifically entertaining setup focusing on the smartest criminal in the world doing what she does best. While we might have gotten something similar with Netflix’s ill-fated Hunter Rose series (which was cancelled before it ever got started), a Jamie Moriarty show wouldn’t need the super-hero and supernatural trappings of Grendel. Would it be fun to see Liu and Miller return for an episode or two? Sure, but the show wouldn’t really need them to. The world of Moriarty would be overflowing with possibilities without the need of Sherlock Holmes. And who wouldn’t want to see Dormer return to such a juicy role once more?