The Game Is Afoot: Young Sherlock Season 1 Release Date, Cast, Plot Clues, and Everything You Need to Know
Before he became Baker Street’s legend, Sherlock gets his start in Young Sherlock, an eight-episode British origin series landing on Prime Video March 4, 2026, from showrunner Matthew Parkhill and director Guy Ritchie, adapted from Andrew Lane’s novels.
Prime Video is going back to Baker Street... sort of. Guy Ritchie is steering a brand-new take on the legend with Young Sherlock, which follows Holmes before the deerstalker, the violin, and the whole tortured-genius thing. It is set at Oxford, it is loud and slick (because Ritchie), and yes, they dropped a trailer to prove it.
The short version
Young Sherlock is a British series based on Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes books. Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays a 19-year-old Sherlock figuring out who he is while solving his very first murder case. Matthew Parkhill is the showrunner, Guy Ritchie directs, and all eight episodes land at once on Prime Video on March 4, 2026.
Release date and rollout
Prime Video confirmed the date in the first trailer: March 4, 2026. All eight episodes premiere the same day. No weekly drip here, just a full-season drop.
The trailer: Oxford, promises, and immediate chaos
The footage opens with Sherlock arriving at the University of Oxford, promising his mother he will behave. That lasts about five seconds. We quickly get a montage of trouble: a murder on campus, masked threats, and a young Holmes already poking his nose where it does not belong. There are quick flashes of Princess Gulun Shou'an, both of his parents, and a teasing glimpse of James Moriarty, because of course this rivalry starts early.
The setup
This is Sherlock before the myth calcifies. He is raw, brilliant, and a little disgraced, dragged into a killing at Oxford that becomes a much bigger problem than anyone expects. His first case spirals into a globe-spanning conspiracy that reshapes his life and, apparently, forges the detective we recognize. Ritchie has said the show is about watching Sherlock build his tools and his personality piece by piece, not just watching him use them.
"Daunting is a good word - there was definitely a bit of that. I mean, there still is a bit of that, because it is not even out yet."
- Hero Fiennes Tiffin, talking to Entertainment Weekly about stepping into Sherlock's shoes
Who is making it (and why that matters)
Guy Ritchie back in Sherlock world is not a curveball. He previously directed Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with Robert Downey Jr., and the new series looks like it keeps his high-energy, punchy style while skewing younger. Showrunner Matthew Parkhill is running the room, and this is Ritchie and Fiennes Tiffin's second team-up after The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Cast and characters
- Hero Fiennes Tiffin - Sherlock Holmes: 19-year-old amateur investigator at Oxford
- Zine Tseng - Princess Gulun Shou'an: a young Chinese princess, scholar, and martial artist
- Joseph Fiennes - Silas Holmes: Sherlock's father
- Natascha McElhone - Cordelia Holmes: Sherlock's mother
- Colin Firth - Sir Bucephalus Hodge
- Donal Finn - James Moriarty: Sherlock's future arch-nemesis (previously played by Jared Harris in A Game of Shadows and Ralph Fiennes in Holmes & Watson)
- Max Irons - Mycroft Holmes: Sherlock's older brother
- Numan Acar - Esad
- Ravi Aujla - Kishmore Malik
- Holly Cattle - Edie
- Simon Delaney - Detective Fitget
- Adam James - Dr. Charles Maltby
- Rachel Shelley - Mrs. Anna Tilcott
- Ian Midlane - role TBA
Behind the scenes and timeline
Prime Video ordered the eight-episode season and kicked development into gear in 2024. The new trailer is our first official look, and it doubles as the date announcement.
Bottom line: if you want a younger, brasher Holmes learning on the job with Ritchie's signature swagger, this is exactly that. Young Sherlock hits Prime Video on March 4, 2026, with the whole season ready to binge.