Watson‘s premiere aired last night on CBS and fans were in for a big casting surprise while watching!
If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you’ll know that the main villain in the recurring series is James Moriarty. When Watson‘s cast was announced, no one was said to be playing the infamous role.
However, on last night’s premiere, we found out the actor playing Moriarty and it was a big surprise!
Keep reading to find out more…
Randall Park – Cast as Moriarty!
Fresh Off the Boat‘s Randall Park, who is well known for being a comedic actor, is taking a dramatic turn as the show’s villain!
“I’m known for playing amiable, nice guys. So it was a surprise to get the call. A welcome surprise. The idea of playing a villain is thrilling to me,” Randall told USA Today.
Watson creator Craig Sweeny spoke about how the casting came about, telling Deadline, “I had a pre-existing relationship with Randall, not a huge one, but enough that I had his number in my phone, and we were friendly. I was getting a lot of interest in the role of Moriarty from great actors, but people who are more traditional villains. And I was just interested in the idea of really inverting his persona, the idea of what if Randall Parks’ affability and smile and his famous and completely genuine niceness were a mask for something much more sinister.”
He continued, “I thought that was a really interesting writing challenge and a really interesting way to present the character of Moriarty and that performer as well. I sent him a text and said, would you want to do that? Obviously, there are negotiations that needed to happen but there was interest right from the get-go, we’re very fortunate. He comes back quite a bit over the course of the season.”
Find out the 6 other stars cast in the series.