8 Best TV Versions of Moriarty, Ranked
For over 130 years, Professor James Moriarty has been causing mayhem, mischief, and general malevolence everywhere he goes, but particularly when it comes to undermining his great foe, the master of deduction, Sherlock Holmes.
Created in 1893 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the short story “The Final Problem,” Moriarty was a brilliant mathematician who pulled the strings of London’s criminal underworld. More than a mere plot device designed to challenge the world’s greatest detective, he was a criminal strategist who operated with precision and patience, a paragon of intellect whose carefully orchestrated machinations made him Sherlock Holmes’ most formidable and enduring adversary.
Like Mr. Holmes himself, the great Moriarty has undergone several makeovers, evolutions, and reinterpretations in recent years, with adaptations altering how the character looks, sounds, or even presenting Moriarty as a different gender. Yet through every reinvention, the essence remains unchanged: the ultimate foil to Holmes, a shadow equal whose intellect, cunning, and capacity for manipulation exist solely to challenge the great detective at every turn.
With Donal Finn set to debut his own take on Sherlock Holmes’ most formidable foe in Guy Ritchie‘s Young Sherlock, the timing couldn’t be more fitting to revisit and rank the most memorable modern television versions of the legendary villain, Professor James Moriarty.
Young Sherlock, Season 1, Premieres March 1, Prime Video
8. Sôma Saitô/Aaron Dismuke
Moriarty the Patriot (2020 – 2022)
A mathematics prodigy and brilliant strategist, William James Moriarty serves as a crime consultant while secretly orchestrating an underground campaign to dismantle Britain’s rigid class system.
An antihero, the anime views Moriarty as a man who believes in the destruction of society for the greater good. In the end, he “sacrifices himself” for the benefit of society, becoming a villain so a corrupt system can be exposed and destroyed.
7. Eric Porter
Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV/ITV, 1984 – 1994)
Perhaps the most faithful literary adaptation of Moriarty from Arthur Conan Doyle’s original conception, Eric Porter‘s portrayal is calm, intellectual, and quietly terrifying. He emphasizes not madness, but the precision of a mathematician who treats crime as an exact science. Opposite Jeremy Brett‘s Sherlock Holmes,
Porter matches him beat for beat, maintaining a chilling composure and emotional restraint that makes his Moriarty all the more dangerous. The show was known for its extreme fidelity to Conan Doyle’s stories, period-accurate production design, and iconic theme music. The series ran for 41 episodes.
6. Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
Introduced as Mira Troy, a powerful and polished financial secretary moving within London’s elite circles, Sharon Duncan-Brewster appears to be just another influential figure navigating the city’s political machinery. But in one of the film’s most significant twists, Troy is revealed to be an alias for Professor Moriarty.
Operating behind this respectable façade, she serves as the true architect of the Lyons Match Factory conspiracy, manipulating financial records, orchestrating corruption, and silencing anyone who threatens to expose the deadly working conditions killing factory girls.
5. Randall Park
Watson (2024 – present)
After the “death” of Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle) at Reichenbach Falls, Randall Park‘s Moriarty continues to operate from the shadows, meddling in Dr. John Watson’s (Morris Chestnut) cases and patients, turning the clinic into an extension of his psychological war. Like other Moriartys, he is a genius, but unlike many versions, he prefers subtle manipulation over grand displays. Park brings an interesting twist to the character, using his comedic background to make Moriarty both disarming and deeply unsettling, a villain who thrives on quiet control rather than spectacle.
4. Donal Finn
Young Sherlock (Netflix, 2026 – present)
One of the more intriguing interpretations of the character, this version shows Moriarty before the hatred, before the rivalry, and reveals what it took for him and Holmes to become the worst of enemies: best friends. A down-and-out mathematics scholar at Oxford on scholarship, Donal Finn‘s Moriarty finds his future uncertain until he crosses paths with the equally adrift Sherlock Holmes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). The two form an unlikely alliance, working together in an effort to set their lives back on course. In Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock, Moriarty is not yet the great adversary, but something far more unexpected: a great friend.
3. Daniel Davis
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988–1993)
The perfect foil, created in the holodeck to match Lt. Commander Data’s (Brent Spiner) Sherlock Holmes in every way, Moriarty was even given awareness of the very technology that created him, ensuring a truly level playing field. Cultured, curious, and cold-blooded, this Moriarty is faithful to the literary original, yet possesses a profound understanding of how the universe functions and his place within it, even as an 18th-century literary creation conjured for the off-duty amusement of an android. Daniel Davis’ Moriarty remains one of the most fascinating interpretations of the character ever put on screen in any galaxy.
2. Natalie Dormer
Elementary (CBS, 2012–2019)
One of the bolder reinterpretations, Elementary fused the characters of Moriarty with Irene Adler, “The Woman” herself. Natalie Dormer‘s Jamie Moriarity version was icy, seductive, and ruthlessly intelligent, and her end-of-season reveal was a genuine shock. She weaponized emotional intimacy as effectively as criminal infrastructure, making her betrayal of Holmes deeply personal. She understood him completely, so much so that even after her capture, the two continued writing to each other. Beautiful, brilliant, and deadly, this Moriarty was never someone to underestimate. As she chillingly declared, when it comes to her cruelty, “I have reserves of creativity I haven’t even begun to tap.”
1. Andrew Scott
Sherlock (BBC, 2010–2017)
“Jim? Jim from the hospital?” The perfect way to introduce Moriarty was to underestimate him. Andrew Scott reinvented Moriarty for the modern age, transforming him from a conniving genius into a volatile, somewhat theatrical force of evil with absolutely chilling delivery. Scott’s Moriarty was a chaotic criminal savant who was part performance artist and part psychopath, proving that when he’s good, he’s delicious, and when he’s bad, he’s evil incarnate. The rooftop confrontation in “The Reichenbach Fall” remains one of television’s most iconic villain moments.
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The answer is in the article's title: '8 Best TV Versions of Moriarty, Ranked'. This list does not include movies.
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He is ALWAYS misunderstood. Conan Doyle made him a FAR FAR better antithesis to Holmes than anyone understands. Conan Doyle modeled him after Poincare, perhaps accidentally! AND Moriarty's work on the movements of asteroids and binomial theory are about CHAOS and RANDOMNESS and the asteroid paper was literally from Poincare. This is inimicable to Holmes' deductive determinism.
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I may be wrong, but I think that still of Daniel Davis is from his lone episode of 'Star Trek: Picard' which, incidentally, was decades after his previous appearances in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. I notice the article didn't include that tidbit.
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Why wasn’t Moriarty from the RDJ movies mentioned? He was a seriously scary professor who played a remarkably dangerous game with Sherlock, most especially in the second movie. His presence made a huge impression on both movies, actually, and the movies were just incredible! I was expecting to see him at number 2 or 3 of your list, but was gobsmacked to not see him at all.
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The best thing about Moriarty is how you can always tell when someone doesn't understand Holmes when they overstate how essential Moriarty is to Holmes' story.
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