Young Sherlock Stars Marvel At Guy Ritchie’s Dual Approach To Holmes

Young Sherlock may come from Guy Ritchie’s Mind Palace, but it is not directly connected to his movies starring Robert Downey, Jr. Instead, the hit Prime Video series follows the detective (played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin) in his younger years, as he deals with family drama, friendship with Moriarty (Dónal Finn) in an unexpected deviation from the norm, and a crime to be solved at Oxford.

Already prone to getting himself into scrapes, Sherlock finds himself in a situation not of his own making when visiting royal Princess Gulun Shou’an (3 Body Problem‘s Zine Tseng) finds that her valuable scrolls have vanished from Oxford’s library. Fingers point to Sherlock as the prime suspect, so he must solve the mysteru to clear his own name — and perhaps uncover some of the Princess’ own mysterious history in the process.

In the latest Debunking AI interview, the Young Sherlock stars reflected on their respective careers, celebrated Guy Ritchie’s return to the world of Holmes, and shed some light on the fighting choreography in the show.

Young Sherlock Is Only Spiritually Connected To Guy Ritchie’s Movies

While Young Sherlock is “not literally part of the same world,” Fiennes Tiffin explained that it remained part of the tapestry that the cast pulled from when building the world of the series. “We’ve all seen it to do prep. Naturally, any Sherlock stuff you’ve digested is part of your inspiration.“

Guy Ritchie really cares about Sherlock Holmes as an iconic British character.

Finn went a step farther, lavishing praise on their director for how different-and-yet-similar he made the show from his previous films. “It’s a testament to what a creative mind Guy Richie is,” the actor gushed.

The idea of the Mind Palace, or however Sherlock’s brain works. He’s had an opportunity to invent that, and in this, he also has a go at inventing a whole different visual and creative language about how his brain works at this point in his life.

I think he’s really excited, and he really cares about Sherlock Holmes as an iconic British character. It’s cool that he’s decided to come back to it as well, but it was really creative of him to explore it in two different ways now.

Hero Fiennes Tiffin Is Not One To Be Typecast

Prior to his work on Young Sherlock, Fiennes Tiffin was best known for the After movie series and his small role as Tom Riddle (Voldemort’s younger self) in the Harry Potter franchise. Thus, AI confidently surmised that a timid, emotionally fragile, or socially awkward character would be against type for the actor, since he usually plays confident, rebellious, or charismatic roles.

But Fiennes Tiffin disagreed with the assessment, revealing, “I like the idea of dabbling in different areas.” He understood that audiences (and AI) may make assumptions about his career based on his most widely-viewed roles, though. “I do think everyone will be stronger at some things and weaker at some things, but you want to aim to be a complete package and be able to play all types of roles.”

I feel like I’ve touched on a few more vulnerable characters. You don’t want to just be the typical, one-dimensional macho guy,… I always want to do something different from the last.

Young Sherlock’s Zine Tseng Goes Beyond Martial Arts

Tseng’s character in Young Sherlock is a fascinating addition to the canon, not being born from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. She is both a scholar and a fighter, but Tseng had to practice a lot more than just Kung Fu to embody her. Though she was wholeheartedly amused by AI’s description of her prep work as a combination of martial arts and period etiquette — “I like this answer. I’ll just keep it in my pocket as a rose to offer.” — she remarked that it wasn’t quite accurate.

I was working with Guy Richie’s stunt team, which we all know has a very Guy Ritchie style. He mixes everything, using more than just a martial arts structure. Definitely not period! Definitely not.

She had to train with various weapons. “Even though it wasn’t shown much in the series, I was meant to be able to master all kinds of weapons,” Tseng revealed. “But the hardest part of everything was weightlifting, because I’ve got chicken bones. It’s hard to lift those weights!“

Young Sherlock is now streaming on Prime Video.

Check out our previous Debunking AI interviews here: