‘Watson’ Season 2 Premiere Details & Photos Revealed
Watson, starring Morris Chestnut as the titular doctor, has been delivering twists in CBS’s modern take on the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters from the start. Randall Park as the villain James Moriarty? A great surprise at the end of the premiere. The fact that Moriarty died in the Season 1 finale? Another shock.
The good news is that not only will the series be back for a second season, but it’s returning sooner than previously scheduled. Furthermore, not only are we meeting Sherlock Holmes — Robert Carlyle has been cast in the role — but the show is also staging a reunion for Chestnut, with his Enemy Within costar Noah Mills joining in a recurring role. Read on for everything we know about Watson Season 2, from the premiere date to the cast and more.
When will Watson Season 2 premiere?
While Watson was originally slated to return in the midseason (2026), CBS announced a major change to its fall 2025 lineup on July 11. CIA was moved to the midseason, with the Watson Season 2 premiere moved up to Monday, October 13, at 10/9c.
The logline for the premiere episode, titled “A Son in the Oven,” tells us, “Watson and the fellows spring back into action when Mary’s mother accidentally poisons herself while suffering from a rare form of dementia that is progressing with impossible speed. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes resurfaces after being presumed dead.” The first photos of the episode have also been revealed (above and below).
Colin Bentley / CBS
Who’s in the Watson Season 2 cast?
Watson stars Morris Chestnut (as Dr. John Watson), Eve Harlow (as Ingrid Derian), Peter Mark Kendall (as twins Dr. Stephens Croft and Dr. Adam Croft), Ritchie Coster (as Shinwell Johnson), Inga Schlingmann (as Sasha Lubbock), and Rochelle Aytes (as Dr. Mary Morstan). Randall Park has recurred as James Moriarty. While Moriarty died, executive producer Craig Sweeny hasn’t ruled out Park returning; there are always, for example, flashbacks and hallucinations.
“I definitely wouldn’t rule [Moriarty haunting Watson] out. I mean, definitely the act will haunt Watson, and you’d be a fool to say, I would never allow Randall Park to act in our show. I mean, I would love to see him again,” Sweeny told TV Insider.
Robert Carlyle will recur as Sherlock Holmes.
“We are thrilled to have the mighty Robert Carlyle join the cast of Watson in Season 2,” executive producer and showrunner Craig Sweeny said in a statement. “The man has played iconic roles in projects like Trainspotting, The Full Monty, and 28 Weeks Later… and now he steps into the shoes of the most iconic detective of all, Sherlock Holmes. When Watson’s best friend and former partner makes a shocking reappearance in his life, Watson is forced to confront their shared past—and a secret that may lie buried within Watson’s own body.”
Noah Mills has also joined in a recurring role, Deadline reported on August 12. He’s playing “Beck Wythe, who has newly returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh after blowing up a career in Silicon Valley with reckless, risk-seeking behavior. He meets Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow) in group therapy for people trying to manage their Cluster B personality disorders. The two of them form a bond that may be exactly what they need to rebuild their lives — or might be just the latest dangerous indulgence for both.”
How did Watson Season 1 end?
Moriarty targeted Watson’s team, resulting in twins Adam and Stephens needing a cure, but there was only one dose after he manipulated Ingrid into destroying samples. Watson then used Moriarty’s DNA against him, and the cure didn’t work as well as he’d hoped. He sat with the villain as he died. A two-week time jump then revealed that Watson was involved with pediatric oncologist Laila (Tika Sumpter).
What will happen in Watson Season 2?
The role he played in Moriarty’s death “really challenges [Watson’s] conception of who he is and what he’s capable of. And I think you’ll see it particularly in the season premiere. We’re doing a lot of new narrative stuff in Season 2,” Sweeny previewed. “It’s not all about looking back on what happened. But I think he does enter the season with a sense that I might not know myself as well as I thought I did, even though he probably wouldn’t do it differently. I think he’s really shaken and rattled by it and it’s affecting the way he’s dealing with the people around him.”
With Moriarty out of the picture, they’re not ruling out bringing in more villains from the world of Sherlock Holmes, “but we are creating a paradigm that includes Conan Doyle’s world without saying the premise is always what villain appears this year. So there is a really strong Holmesian storyline, but our plan is not to say, oh, this is Gruner or Milverton. Not to say that we won’t do that in time, but we wanted to sort of open up the paradigm of a new kind of storytelling within that universe in Season 2,” explained the EP.
There will be Sherlock Holmes characters introduced, and Rachel Hayward should be returning as Lestrade. “I’m excited to explore that relationship more in Season 2,” Sweeny said.
In general, looking ahead, he shared, “Hopefully, our intention is to create a really inventive take on how to draw the Sherlock universe into the show that goes deep into Watson’s character. I think you’re going to see a profound testing of the Watson and Mary relationship. We’re going to learn more about each of those characters’ backstories and their families and their history together. You’re going to see Sasha and Stephens in a surprising new light at the very beginning of the season. You’re going to see Adam forced to confront his ambitions and his own future at the clinic. And you’re going to see Ingrid wrestle with the possibility of if she can change. All against some great science, I mean, hey, who doesn’t want to watch that?”
Is Sherlock Holmes alive?
Yes! It was unclear throughout Season 1, but Carlyle’s casting and the Season 2 description confirms it. The series premiere began with both Sherlock and Moriarty seemingly dying after their confrontation at Reichenbach Falls, but the latter survived and we haven’t seen a body for the former. Matt Berry voiced a hallucination of Sherlock during Season 1.
The Season 2 description reads: “While Watson‘s team of “doc-tectives” may have defeated Moriarty last season, they remain determined in Season 2 in their mission to investigate and treat the world’s most rare diseases for their clinic’s patients. With his eyes fixed on the future, Watson faces an unexpected twist when Sherlock Holmes, who was presumed dead, resurfaces, forcing him to confront a buried secret from his past — one that lies hidden within his own body.”
Is there a Watson Season 2 trailer?
Not yet. It’s too early for one.
Watson, Season 2 Premiere, October 13, 10/9c, CBS
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