He might be in the middle of shooting apocalypt♓ic horror thriller Doomsday, but Neil Marshall is already planning his next film. And it’s a real step away from splatter fiction.

He’s just signed on the dotted to direct a re-imagined ver🔴sion of Sherlock Holmes that will see the Victorian detective becoming an action-adventure hero for Wa🅷rners.

And there’s another first for Marshall lurking here – it’ll be the first time he’s directing something he didn’t write, as Michael Johnson has written the script. Warners are apparently hoping that the pair will do a Batman Begins on Holmes and Watson and make them “edgier”. The studio is staying schtum on the plot, but the story will focus less on his stiff detecting style an💙d more on his fencing and boxing, though presumably not his deep love for the smo🔜king of the opium.

With the niggling minor rights issues – the stories are mostly in the public domain, though author Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate still has soꦛme control – the push is on to make this Marshall’s next film. And of course the hunt will now be on for the 15,000th person to play the role of Holmes.