Sherlock Holmes: Mycroft Holmes, Explained

Back in 2009, Guy Ritchie delighted the world with his take on Sherlock Holmes. Action-packed, slick, with a fresh interpretation of the character played by the charismatic Robert Downey Jr., the film surprised audiences with how much fun a Sherlock adaptation could be. Ritchie returned to the world he created with the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in 2011, but since then, it seemed he was ready to leave Baker Street’s prominent detective behind.

However, that appears not to be the case, as he has a new show in the works. Young Sherlock is an upcoming Amazon Prime Video series that will follow a version of the detective in his late teens during his time at Oxford, as he solves his first murder and uncovers a conspiracy along the way. This is not the first attempt to follow Sherlock Holmes as he was just starting out. The video game Sherlock Chapter One, which centers on Holmes investigating his own mother’s death, is one example.

Inspired by Andy Lane’s book series, this series promises to be just as entertaining as Ritchie’s Sherlock movies. Like those films, casting is crucial. Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who previously worked with Ritchie in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, has been tapped to play the titular detective. Earlier this week, Deadline also reported that Max Irons, best known for his leading role as CIA analyst Joe Turner in Condor, has been cast to play Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft Holmes. So who is Mycroft, and what is his role in Sherlock’s stories?

Mycroft’s Deduction Skills Exceed Even Sherlock’s

1975 saw the rekease of a musical-comedy starring Gene Wilder entitled The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. Although that film followed Sherlock’s younger brother, who was invented for the movie, the same title could easily be applied to Mycroft.

Traditionally seven years Sherlock’s senior, Mycroft was first introduced to readers in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter. Larger, stouter, and enigmatic, Holmes confesses to Dr. Watson that Mycroft’s deductive reasoning skills exceed even his own. (It’s a surprising admission, considering Sherlock’s skills have been revered for generations, even in parody.) Examples of the two of them engaging in a deduction battle appear in both Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, BBC’s Sherlock Season 3, Episode 1, “The Empty Hearse,” and in the 1984 series The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Season 1, Episode 9, “The Greek Interpreter,” However, despite Mycroft’s superior mental faculties, he lacks the ambition and energy of his brother, and doesn’t have the capacity to bring cases to trial.

He Has Mysterious Ties to the British Government

That said, while Mycroft doesn’t have Sherlock’s passion for field work, he does have a job with the British government. The exact nature of that job is left intentionally vague in the original stories. However, he did carve out his own unique career, and is one of the most indispensable men in the country.

Mycroft is also the co-founder of The Diogenes Club. While not canonically a front for the British Secret Service in the canon of the original stories, it has been interpreted as such by pastiches, BBC’s Sherlock, and the 1970 Billy Wilder film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The idea of Mycroft being one of the pioneers of the British Secret Service has long been an attractive theory for fans. In fact, some have posited the idea of Mycroft as the original M, tying Sherlock Holmes to the “shaken, not stirred” martini-enjoyer James Bond.

When Sherlock Faked His Death, Mycroft Was His Only Confidante

In 1893, Doyle decided to kill off Sherlock Holmes during a final battle with his archenemy, Professor Moriarity, in The Final Problem. Naturally, there was an outcry from Sherlock Holmes fans. Subscriptions to The Strand Magazine, where Holmes was published, tanked, and readers mourned. This eventually persuaded Doyle to revive Holmes in The Adventure of the Empty House in 1903. The story reveals that Holmes faked his death, having gone abroad. Only Mycroft knew, and supplied Sherlock with the money that he needed during the near three-year period when he was presumed dead. Fans have termed this period “The Great Hiatus.” Interestingly, this is flipped in Elementary, where Mycroft is the one that needs to fake his own death.

Despite only appearing in four of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes stories, Mycroft, like another Holmes sibling, has made an impression. He’s a man with a great intellect who works in government, possibly in the British Secret Service, and who is often shown to have a rivalry with his more famous sibling. There’s a mystery about Mycroft that continues to make him appealing, even to new audiences. Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a fan, having co-written three novels centering around Mycroft with Anna Waterhouse. Max Irons may have big shoes to fill, but if Ritchie’s last Mycroft, played by Stephen Fry, is anything to go by, he’ll be a great addition to the series.

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