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Young Sherlock: Fiennes Tiffin & Finn on Friendship-Turned-Rivalry

Young Sherlock stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Dónal Finn spoke with us about finding their voices as Holmes & Moriarty, friends-turned-rivals.

It provides an interesting dynamic to any established rivalry in fiction when we learn things didn't always used to be that way. It's been a recurring narrative device in comics, films, and TV for generations. A contemporary example of this is the WB series Smallville that found that Superman/Clark Kent (Tom Welling) and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) wasn't always at each other's throats with the Miles Millar and Alfred Gough series seeing them growing up around Smallville, Kansas becoming friends initially at first despite their drastically different backgrounds before their friendship would deteriorate over time. Playing up on that trope is the Prime Video series Young Sherlock that finds, as the title suggests, a far youthful incarnation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle famed detective played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin putting his genius levels of deduction to the test not with Dr. John Watson as most canonical representation of the Sherlock Holmes story, but with James Moriarty (Dónal Finn), his would-be future rival and mortal enemy.

From Guy Ritchie, witness the legendary origin story of Sherlock Holmes in this irreverent, action-laden mystery that follows the iconic detective's early adventures. Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man – raw and unfiltered– when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty. His first-ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy, culminating in an explosive showdown that changes his life forever. Unfolding in 1870s Oxford and adventuring abroad, the series will expose the early antics of the anarchic adolescent who is yet to evolve into Baker Street's most renowned resident. Fiennes Tiffin and Finn spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with showrunner Matthew Parkhill (adapting the story from Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes), their favorite incarnation of Sherlock Holmes, and if they had any influence in their performances, and if they tempered their performances to not dive too deep into their characters' eventual hatred for one another.

Young Sherlock Stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Dónal Finn on Building Sherlock-Moriarty Friendship Until Their Eventual Rivalry

What's it like working with Matthew as a creative on Young Sherlock?

Fiennes Tiffin: Hey Tom, thanks for your question, nice to see you. I have often referred to Matthew Parkhill as "God" on our show. If you ever have a question that needs to be answered, he's the man to go to. I do not know how he can conceive a story that is so layered and complex in every different way, and it's so multifaceted. He introduced me to the phrase "four-quadrant," a show that appeals to a wide variety of audiences, and I remember in business studies in school learning that every product must be aimed at a specific demographic. This is a very creative thing we're doing, but at the end of the day, in some sense, we are creating a product, and it's so ambitious to not need to focus on a certain demographic and appeal to young, old, and everyone in between, and it's a credit to him that we have successfully managed to do that.

Was there a generation of Sherlock Holmes or an incarnation growing up that you loved? Was it hard to separate that into your roles?

Finn: Yeah, we've spoken previously about how this is such a joyous project for both of us. I feel that since we were massive fans of Sherlock Holmes prior to even hearing about this project, so it's hard not to be influenced by iterations that have come before of like Robert Downey Jr. and the films that he did with Guy Ritchie's [incarnation of] Sherlock, and then similarly, the BBC version of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott.

I would say they are not just percolating in our minds like inspiration for this, not that we like revisiting them ahead of preparing for our roles or whatever, but just more generally for like inspiration in acting. I think what they do, particularly in the BBC version, taking these massive risks with their characters, they play with such wildness, cheekiness, and boldness, and they're large and theatrical in their performances, as well as being hyper-focused, sharp, and subtle, that it's hard not to be inspired by them just in general.

I think I speak for maybe both of us in that, they are inspiring performances in general, but they weren't specifically an inspiration for this. We both value the fact that, perhaps if we revisited them ahead of preparing for this, it would be hard to go, "Well, it's been done, and that's perfect." We should probably try and copy that, but I think given that we're meeting these characters at a separate point in their lives and one that we very rarely get to see, it's important to try and bring what can come from us authentically and show the journey towards those characters that are established, known, and brilliant for the point in time that we meet them in the books.

Was it hard to build that rapport in your performances, but then like dial back to make sure you don't like maybe give too much away with the eventual adversarial relationship that Sherlock and Moriarty will have?

Fiennes Tiffin: Yeah, one of the challenges, but also the exciting things about exploring these characters at this point in their lives for both of us, respectively, is making sure that our characters show signs of the foundations and similarities of the fact that they can become the characters in Conan Doyle's works, but giving them enough room to grow, to warrant telling the origin story while making it enjoyable to document their growth as characters, whether it be like emotionally, physically, Sherlock's fighting ability, and all of these things. Sherlock, however, always has a counterpart in John Watson, and in our story, it's Moriarty.

As a fan, my knee-jerk reaction to seeing that they'd be friends was that this is simply incorrect. They must be enemies, but once you start to explore that friendship, you realize how fun it is and how much it informs the way that these two characters shape who they are. After exploring this, I really don't believe that Sherlock and Moriarty would become who they were if it weren't for their friendship now, and then also when you go back to Conan Doyle's works or any interpretation of his works in their stages in later life, when they are rivals, it enriches that rivalry, having the understanding that they were once friends, that's why they know each other's weaknesses, and that why they're rivals.

Season one of Young Sherlock, which also stars Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, and Colin Firth, is available on Prime Video.

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