The second season of Watson is on the way to CBS, and fans can expect it a lot sooner than was originally announced. Instead of having to wait until early 2026 to see the aftermath of John letting Moriarty die in the Season 1 finale, the doctor and his team will be back very soon in the 2025 TV schedule thanks to some scheduling changes. The catch? Watson is losing its post-Tracker slot on Sunday nights, but leading man Morris Chestnut is optimistic about the doctor/detective drama doing well on Mondays.
Watson will air this fall on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET, immediately following Season 8 of FBI. FBI was originally set to be paired with CIA, the newest installment in Dick Wolf’s expansive TV world. When CIA was delayed to midseason, Watson was bumped up and is now just a couple of weeks away from premiering and introducing this show’s take on Sherlock Holmes. When I spoke with Morris Chestnut about all things Watson, he shared his thoughts on his show being paired with FBI rather than Tracker:
I’m hoping [it will go] very well! I mean, FBI is a great franchise. I love Dick Wolf and everything that they do over there, and I think it’s going to do very well on Mondays. I love Sundays as well, but I think it’ll do very well on Mondays.
FBI is also changing time slots, leaving its longtime place on CBS Tuesdays to switch over to Mondays in the wake of FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International’s cancellations. The two dramas will be preceded on Monday nights by The Neighborhood at 8 p.m. ET and DMV at 8:30 p.m. ET. But does coming back months before originally intended mean that the Watson team had to scramble to get to work on Season 2? With the full first season available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription, Morris Chestnut explained:
No. When they made the decision, we were already ramping up to go into production. We still had our studio space from last year, and we were just anxious to get back. And [showrunner] Craig [Sweeny] had been writing feverishly on the show, and so we were all just anxious to get back to work, so we didn’t have to start early. I know we did start earlier than a couple of other productions. I think Tracker may have started the month after us, but we were on schedule.
So, the plan to introduce the not-so-dead Sherlock Holmes as well dig into Mary’s personal life in the Season 2 premiere wasn’t thrown together at the last minute when the Watson team learned that they’d be back in primetime months earlier than expected. The first episode of Season 2, which will introduce Once Upon a Time’s Robert Carlyle as Sherlock, is called “A Son in the Oven,” and it will be a big one for Rochelle Aytes’ character. The episode description from CBS reads:
Watson and the fellows spring back into action when Mary’s mother accidentally poisons herself while suffering from a rare form of dementia that is progressing with impossible speed. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes resurfaces after being presumed dead.
It remains to be seen what John’s team of fellows looks like to start Season 2. While both of the twins were on the road to recovery after their close call with death in the finale two-parter, Ingrid was expected to leave as punishment for helping Moriarty and deceiving everybody. That said, she was key to the team as a neurologist, and it’s hard to picture John surrounded by a team of just three. (Especially when two of those three are played by the same actor.)
See what Watson has in store for its first episode paired with FBI with the season 2 premiere on Monday, October 13 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. Tika Sumpter will also return for the episode as Laila, so it seems that there will be at least some time devoted to Watson’s relationship, which was still quite new at the end of Season 1 in the spring.