'Sherlock Holmes 3': 'Rocketman' Dexter Fletcher replaces Guy Ritchie as director

British director Dexter Fletcher is in line to direct the third movie in the Sherlock Holmes series, according to reports.

He will jump in on the franchise where Guy Ritchie left off. Ritchie helmed both 2009's Sherlock Holmes and the its follow-up in 2011, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

It's been a pretty solid stretch since the last movie in the series, mostly thanks to Robert Downey Jr being wrapped up in the world of Marvel for the last decade or so.

But he will soon be returning to don the deerstalker, with Warner Bros having slated a third movie for December 21, 2021, reports Variety.

The first two movies were respectable money spinners for the studio, the first costing $90 million to make and coining in $524 million, while Game of Shadows, though more expensive at $125 million, made $545.4 million worldwide.

Though not confirmed just yet, it's expected that Jude Law will return to play Dr. John Watson to Downey Jr's Holmes.

Fletcher, meanwhile, proved himself to be a safe pair of hands after he took over directing duties from Bryan Singer on troubled Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody last year.

Singer was fired from the production, with Fletcher being drafted in to finish the movie, though he only received an executive producer credit due to DGA rules.

He also scored very decent reviews for Rocketman, his Elton John biopic starring Taron Egerton, though the movie has proved to be only a modest success at the box office.

Read more: Bohemian Rhapsody sequel ‘talks’

Fletcher is, of course, best known in the UK for his extensive work as a child actor in the likes of Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone, Press Gang, and then latterly in movies like The Rachel Papers, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (directed by Guy Ritchie) and Layer Cake, as well as Band of Brothers.

He made his directing debut with the comedy drama Wild Bill in 2011, the Proclaimers jukebox musical Sunshine On Leith in 2013 and Eddie Edwards biopic Eddie The Eagle in 2016, once again with Egerton in the lead.