Guy Ritchie's Hit Detective Series Proves It's The End Of An Era

Guy Ritchie‘s latest streaming success proves it’s the end of an era for the iconic director. Earlier this year, Ritchie returned to the world of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, producing and co-directing Prime Video’s eight-part detective drama, Young Sherlock. Starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as the intrepid sleuth, Young Sherlock explores a much wilder, less experienced version of the world’s greatest detective, as he becomes embroiled in a complex criminal conspiracy involving Oxford University, biochemical weapons, Chinese royalty, and the death of his younger sister.

The series is filled to the brim with Ritchie’s trademark style, featuring an outrageous yet compelling story, snappy banter, fast-paced action, intriguing characters — Dónal Finn’s younger interpretation of James Moriarty is especially memorable — and killer needle drops that give the show its uniquely recognizable atmosphere. Of course, Young Sherlock isn’t Ritchie’s only recent TV format success. In fact, it seems the director has found a new groove in the streaming sphere, priorities shifting from the big screen to the small screen.

The Era Of Guy Ritchie As A Movie-Exclusive Filmmaker Is Over

Theo James sitting on a leather chair with a stern expression in The Gentleman show

While Ritchie has traditionally been a feature filmmaker, helming hits like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, the Robert Downey Jr.-led Sherlock Holmes films, a movie remake of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Disney’s live-action Aladdin, and many more, Ritchie has made an undeniably successful transition into the television format. In the last two years alone, Ritchie has worked on three high-profile, acclaimed drama shows, including a reimagined version of The Gentlemen, gangster drama MobLand — starring none other than Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Tom Hardy — and, of course, Young Sherlock.

Ritchie is also still booked and busy on the movie side of the business. His most recent effort, In The Grey, which stars Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Eiza González as a trio of elite operatives tasked with reclaiming a billion-dollar fortune from a ruthless tyrant, was just released in cinemas. Then there’s his upcoming film, Wife and Dog, which features an incredible cast that includes Tomás Paredes, Rosamund Pike, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paddy Considine, and James Norton. Still, there’s no denying that Ritchie’s era of being a movies-only director and producer is effectively over.

All three of Ritchie’s recent shows are returning for a second season. Both The Gentlemen and MobLand will return for their sophomore outings later this year, while Prime Video announced Young Sherlock had officially been renewed for season 2 just a few weeks after the show dropped in full on the steamer; Ritchie will direct the first episode. If Ritchie can continue to balance both streaming and movie projects, the English director and producer will only expand his already impressive legacy.

The TV Format Has Benefited Guy Ritchie

Helen Mirren as Maeve Harrigan and Pierce Brosnan as Conrad Harrigan quietly talking together in MobLand

Ritchie has always had a knack for character building and action-driven storytelling. His stories feature compelling villains and anti-heroes, examining Britain’s oppressive class system, the power of corruption, and the inherent lure of greed. This is true for both his movies and his streaming series. Lately, however, it seems Ritchie’s usual themes and narratives have been better suited to long-form storytelling, with eight or ten-episode seasons giving him and his co-writers more time to develop their criminal conspiracies and the characters’ roles within them.

While it’s nearly impossible to compare the financial success of theatrical movies and streaming series, the fact that all three of Ritchie’s shows have been granted second-season renewals speaks volumes about their success with audiences. The Gentlemen, for instance, spent 10 weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10 TV Shows chart between the beginning of March and mid-May 2024 (via What’s On Netflix). Similarly, Young Sherlock became Prime Video’s no. 1 show worldwide just five days after its release and spent at least a month in the Top 10.

Ritchie’s latest movie debuts haven’t been as lucky. When looking at Ritchie’s theatrical releases from around the same time as The Gentlemen, there’s a noticeable shift. 2023’s The Covenant, for instance, grossed just $21 million on a reported $55 million budget. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare earned just shy of $30 million at the worldwide box office for a reported $60 million budget. Ritchie’s Apple TV original movie, Fountain of Youth, while achieving some success on the streaming charts, never made waves the same way Ritchie’s shows did.

Critically speaking, the shows Ritchie is involved with have fared better than his latest movies, too. While The Covenant did well with critics, scoring 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, the same can’t be said for Fountain of Youth or In The Grey. Fountain of Youth currently holds a genuinely low 35% Tomatometer score, while In The Grey‘s Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is only 44%. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare sits between these extremes at 68%.

Ritchie’s show scores, on the other hand, have been much more stable. The Gentlemen scored 75%, MobLand scored 76%, and Young Sherlock scored 84%. The divide between audiences and critics is also much smaller for Ritchie’s streaming series (their audience scores are 84%, 67%, and 83%, respectively).

Guy Ritchie Has A Surprising Streak On Streaming Services

A still photo from the new Young Sherlock

Many of Hollywood’s biggest directorial and producing names sign exclusive, long-term deals with streamers. Netflix and TV legend Shonda Rhimes have a long-standing deal due to the success of Bridgerton. Now that Stranger Things is over, The Duffer Brothers will move on from Netflix and head over to Paramount instead. Guy Ritchie, however, has approached his streaming output differently. All three of the shows he’s worked on have been platformed by different studios.

Young Sherlock is exclusively available on Prime Video, MobLand is a Paramount+ original, and Netflix produces The Gentlemen. This could, of course, change in the future, as Ritchie becomes even more of a household name in streaming. For now, though, it’s allowed the director to experiment creatively and work with other talented writers and directors. Rather than becoming stuck in one “universe,” Ritchie’s recent TV work moves between 20th-century Oxford, modern-day London, and the gorgeous rolling hills of the English countryside. It certainly feels like Guy Ritchie has found his new calling.