Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking with Elementary’s executive producer Rob Doherty and actor John Noble, who is currently playing the mysterious Morland Holmes on this season of Elementary.
Having been a huge fan of John Noble over the years from his work in Fringe and Lord of the Rings, I was extremely excited to discuss the new character of Morland Holmes with John. Over the years, John has played this type of difficult father-son relationship a number of times and he mentioned that he seems to gravitate towards these roles because of the complexity and the level that a man’s relationship with his father will affect a man’s personality. When it comes to Sherlock, John said that it will be very interesting to see how everyone else in Sherlock’s life responds to actually meeting the man that fathered the enigma that is Sherlock Holmes. John was very careful to not reveal too much on the role because he says that the character is meant to be revealed over the course of the season as a slow burn. That being said, this interview did reveal a few interesting facts about the mysterious Morland Holmes.
Why Now?:
One of the most interesting things about Morland Holmes is the fact that he is really the instigator for the entire series, but until the fourth season premiere, we, and the majority of the characters on the show, have yet to meet him properly. As we move into the rest of the season and learn more about Morland’s character its going to be fun to learn why Morland has decided to come back at this time of all times. In the past Sherlock has had crises and has gotten in and out of trouble, but in this specific situation of a relapse, Morland decides that he must visit his son and take care of the situation for him. John noted that Sherlock has a very strong sense of his father’s flaws, but at the same time that Morland does care about his son and, over the course of the next that we’re going to learn a lot more about why their relationship is so strained when they do in fact care about each other.
Sherlock’s Mother:
During the course of the interview, Rob mentioned that he likes to think about the series as a show about “broken people”. As Morland Holmes is a new character to the series, I decided to ask Rob and John how they each thought that Morland was broken. Rob responded that its obviously very easy to demonize Morland and assume that he wasn’t the best father ever, but that its also interesting to see how Morland’s “brokenness” is related to the damage that we see in Sherlock through his addictions and obvious personality issues. Additionally, John thought that even though it’s clear that Sherlock is especially damaged by some mysterious past with a mother that was an important part of the family, it’s important to note that all people are somewhat broken through life and that the characters in Elementary are no exception to this rule.
Fringe:
With Fox’s recent revival of 24, Prison Break, and The X-Files I had to ask John if there was ever an opportunity to revive Fringe, if he would be interested. John noted the level of difficulty that such a revival would require, but admitted that he would love to go back to the cast and the character of Walter Bishop. While it doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen anytime soon, it’s always great to hear that John isn’t completely ruling it out either so fingers crossed!
I would like to thank John and Rob for taking the time to participate in this interview. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed learning their perspectives on the characters of the show. Be sure to tune in to Elementary on Thursday nights at 10 on CBS.
