Elementary season 7 is coming to an end after seven seasons, but what does the future hold for CBS’ version of Sherlock Holmes? In 2012, another modernized version of the most famous detective in the world, Sherlock Holmes, premiered in CBS, titled Elementary. Unlike BBC’s version, this series was set in New York City and John Watson was changed for Dr. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), among other changes to Sherlock himself.
Elementary's Sherlock Holmes (played by Jonny Lee Miller) is recovering from drug addiction and now working for the New York Police Department as consulting detective. His right-hand, Joan Watson, started as his sober companion (hired by Holmes’ father) and became his apprentice, although she has taken independent cases sometimes. Throughout seven seasons, Elementary included some of the most popular characters from Holmes’ universe, such as Mycroft Holmes, Ms Hudson, and Jamie Moriarty (female version of his archenemy James Moriarty).
Miller's take on the character is already the actor with the most appearances as Sherlock in film and TV by far, with over 150 episodes to date, but he isn't going to have much longer in the role. With the season finale fast approaching, here's what's happening with Sherlock and Watson in Elementary season 7 and beyond.
Elementary Season 7 Is The Final Season
On December 2018, CBS announced that season 7 of Elementary would be the final one, with a total of 13 episodes, making it the series’ shortest season. Season 6 was initially believed to be the last one, as it had only 13 episodes, but CBS later ordered eight additional episodes, and renewed the series for a shorter and final season. Although season 6’s finale could have served as a definitive conclusion to the series, the network decided to give the writers a chance to finish the arcs of their characters in a proper manner – and judging by the title of the last episode, “Their Last Bow”, it all points at the series getting the ending it deserves, with a generous dose of references to the original source.
Why Elementary Season 8 Won’t Happen
Every TV series, even the most successful ones, have a lifespan, and the time has come for Elementary to end. Ratings have been going down for a few seasons now, and with the contracts of the main stars reportedly coming to an end, the series has been preparing the ground for its final episodes for a while now, and it’s too late for CBS to change its mind or for another network (or streaming service) to pick it up. Jonny Lee Miller doesn’t have any upcoming projects (yet), but Lucy Liu does have a busy agenda, making an eighth season difficult even if the network did want more. In fact, she’s starring in a new CBS series titled Why Women Kill, premiering on CBS All Access on the same day the final episode of Elementary is set to air.
Elementary is one of the best TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes to date, managing to keep the essence of the main character as well as some of its darkest traits, which are usually overseen when adapting it to either TV or the big screen. Hopefully, the final episode will give it the closure it deserves and won’t leave fans with a cliffhanger.