For a while now there’s been talk that Sherlock Holmes’ even smarter brother Mycroft would be a major part of the sequel to the last year’s hit Robert Downey Jr. flick. Now we know who will be playing the role, with Stephen Fry announcing on BBC Radio (picked up by THN), that he’ll be taking the part.
Although not well known, Mycroft is a character from Conan Doyle’s original stories, and while far cleverer in many ways than Sherlock, he lack the street smarts and drive to be a good detective, and is terrible at anything practical. However he’s the person Sherlock turns to when there’s a riddle that even he is stumped by. Mycroft will often come up with the answer, once someone else has done the legwork.
It’s great casting, as many people regard Fry as some sort of genius god anyway, so it won’t exactly be tough to sell him as that in Sherlock Holmes 2. It’s not too much of a stretch either to imagine he wouldn’t be great as an all-action detective. Guy Ritchie will start shooting the movie soon, with Downey Jr. and Jude Law back in the lead role, with a release planned for December 16th, 2012.