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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

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Sue Vertue, producer on Sherlock, recently revealed this picture along with the tweet: “Sherlock’s new nemesis — introducing Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen.”

So, who might that be, now?

Magnussen will be played by Lars Mikkelsen, brother to Mads Mikkelsen, who you probably know already as Hannibal in David Fuller’s current television production of the same name, and “that guy who made James Bond really uncomfortable in a seatless chair” during Casino Royale.

As to who Magnussen is, the name bears a striking resemblance to Charles Ausgustus Milverton, who featured in Doyle’s Holmes story “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.” (Interestingly, the character was based on a real-life man in Doyle’s time named Charles Augustus Howell, who had died several years before the story was published.) The man was a master blackmailer whom Holmes detested on principle. The detective in fact allowed one of Milverton’s victims to murder him without giving any information to Scotland Yard following his death, believing that the man had gotten his just desserts.

If that is the figure Mikkelsen is set to play, then it’s an exciting move giving Sherlock a new enemy—this rivalry is sure to be very different from the kind he had with Jim Moriarty. That picture alone is pretty unsettling; he looks like one cold customer. How do you think this bodes for Series 3?

About the Author

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Emmet Asher-Perrin

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Emmet Asher-Perrin is the News & Entertainment Editor of Reactor. Their words can also be perused in tomes like Queers Dig Time Lords, Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Uneven Futures: Strategies for Community Survival from Speculative Fiction. They cannot ride a bike or bend their wrists. You can find them on Bluesky and other social media platforms where they are mostly quiet because they'd rather to you talk face-to-face.
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