People love to blame blogs for all of the factual inaccuracies floating around on the internet, but more often than not official sources seem incapable of doing any better. For instance a few weeks ago here word broke that Brad Pitt might play Moriarty in new scenes being shot for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Warner Bros. immediately issued a statement calling these reports “completely inaccurate”. That was a not true.

THR now confirms that Brad Pitt really is in discussions to play Moriarty, we’re just not sure whether he’ll actually play him in Sherlock Holmes. Instead he's in talks to play the master detective’s arch-nemesis in Sherlock Holmes 2.

The release of the first movie is still three months out but Warner Bros. has already started developing a sequel. Odds are Robert Downey will be back to reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes with Jude Law in tow as the ever-reliable Watson. That makes Robert Downey a two-franchise man and in my book, the first legitimate contender to snatch the title of world’s biggest movie star from the now much aged Harrison Ford.

There’s still a chance by the way, that Pitt may actually show up in the first Sherlock Holmes movie as well. Guy Ritchie has already confirmed that Moriarty has some sort of cameo in the film. If Warner Bros. really is intent on turning Sherlock into a franchise, then using Pitt for that cameo, even if it takes last minute reshoots, is the perfect way to tease the sequel.