We were all very distressed when the BBC series Sherlock came to a conclusion last season with the death of our favorite detective. By ‘we’, I of course mean Martin Freeman’s John Watson, because all the rest of us knew that old Sherlock was not quite as dead as he would have us believe. With season 3 of Sherlock geared to hit in America early in 2014, with a UK premiere sometime the end of this year, it’s no surprise that little bits of casting and plot news have begun filtering out. In this case: there’s a new villain in town.
The villain in question is Charles Augustus Magnussen, and he will be played by Lars Mikkelsen (older brother of Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen). Sherlock producer Sue Vertue tweeted a picture of him earlier today and he looks … well, he looks like a Sherlock Holmes villain. Well-played.
Charles Augustus Milverton was one of Holmes’s most dastardly villains in the original stories. Milverton was a vicious blackmailer and a nasty piece of work in general. Not only do they share a similar name, but Mikkelsen in this picture greatly resembles one of the drawings of Milverton by Sidney Paget, who illustrated the stories in the Strand Magazine. Given Sherlock‘s propensity for taking the original stories and changing them around, there’s no surprise there.
As for the return of Mr. Holmes himself? Well, while we may not be surprised, poor John Watson and Co. are going to have quite a time of it when Sherlock resurrects. We don’t yet know what shape his resurrection will ultimately take, but we can hope that it will have some relation to the original story ‘The Empty House.’ It damn well better.
You can check out Sue Vertue’s tweet with the photo of Mikkelsen (as well as Sidney Paget’s Milverton drawing) below.
We can expect to see Sherlock in the US sometime next year.
Sherlock’s new nemesis – introducing Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen. #sherlock pic.twitter.com/PyEkESbXyx
— sue vertue (@suevertue) July 29, 2013
