After releasing a sinister teaser in February, Netflix has now released a full trailer for its upcoming series The Irregulars. It’s part of the cinematic universe of Sherlock Holmes from the streaming channel (no, that’s not a thing, but it could be!), After last year’s charm Enola Holmes series, which told the story of Sherlock’s younger sister, based on the novels by Nancy Springer (although the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle sued Netflix for portraying Sherlock in that series as very emotional).
The Irregulars is loosely based on the street boy gang called Baker Street Irregulars, which has appeared in several Arthur Conan Doyle films Sherlock Holmes stories. In the books, Irregulars are like confidential informants for Holmes and Dr. Watson, giving them information from the streets and helping them solve cases in Victorian London.
The Netflix production, however, casts Sherlock and his partner in a decidedly sinister light. He also places the supernatural elements that normally hide at the edges of Holmes’ stories in the front and center, with Jessie (Darci Shaw), a girl who “can see things that normal people can’t”, like maybe dead people , and something called “Rip” (capital R, the caption says) in “the barrier between our world and the next”, which doesn’t sound very good. Irregulars – Jessie, Bea (Thaddea Graham), Billy (Jojo Macari), Spike (McKell David) and Leo (Harrison Osterfield) – have to close Rip, or everyone will be doomed.
The series director is Tom Bidwell, who said that this project has been his dream for more than a decade. Judging by the trailer, Sherlock himself (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is a minor character – he only appears in five of the series’ eight episodes – and Dr. Watson (Royce Pierreson) as a villain is a fun twist. The Irregulars premieres on Netflix on March 26.