As the most-watched new season of the show, Elementary is prepping its anticipated post-Super Bowl episode, almost guaranteeing it will be a ratings behemoth.
"It's been a bear, but in a lovely way," executive producer Rob Doherty said of the anticipated hour. The pressure isn't lost on him, however, as they wrap production in the episode in the coming days.
"It's hard to go from 10 to 11, but I did. Mostly what we felt was great excitement," Doherty said, adding that the post-Super Bowl episode will "expose the show to people who may not have checked it out yet" and yet will be "something that our regular audience would really have fun with."
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Though Elementary has continued to maintain the episode of the week format, the introduction of Sherlock Holmes' greatest foe Moriarty will cause the series to head into having a heavier mythology.
"We have a strong sense of what we want to do," Doherty told reporters Saturday at the show's Television Critics Association's press tour session. "As we get closer and closer to wrapping the season, there will be more serialization."
It was important to Doherty that the casting of Moriarty be kept secret for as long as possible. "We're approaching very carefully and as quietly as we can. At the end of the day, we want a tremendous actor," he said. "It's less fun for me if you know who he is."
Doherty added: "We have a few more weeks before we have to sweat that."
Holmes' former flame Irene Adler has also been dolloped out throughout the season, and though Doherty wouldn't directly address whether she was truly dead, he did reveal that they want to attach a face to her.
"She's an important element to Sherlock's backstory. I'd love to have a face to that name," he said. "She's got to be unique. You will see a living, breathing actress reading lines and portraying Irene," though hinting that that could be in flashback form.
As far as the Holmes-Watson dynamic is concerned, Doherty reaffirmed what was said last year, saying that though some viewers will want a hookup, "I don't think we need it."
Elementary airs 10 p.m. Thursdays on CBS.
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