CBS was home to some of network TV's biggest freshman hits by the end of the spring 2025 TV schedule, including Morris Chestnut's Watson. The doctor/detective drama featured names like John Watson, Mary Morstan, and James Moriarty straight out of Sherlock Holmes stories, but with a modern medical twist. While the series was renewed for Season 2, one CBS exec explained why its return is going to be delayed, and that news made me think back on happier comments from cast member Peter Mark Kendall.
Why CBS Is Delaying Watson Season 2
Instead of joining shows like Dick Wolf's new CIA series and fellow 2024-2025 freshman hit Matlock in CBS' 2025-2026 TV lineup this fall, Watson will once again premiere in midseason, which presumably means early 2026. CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach addressed the decision to Deadline, saying:
We’ll definitely be pushing viewers to binge it on Paramount+ in the meantime. But there truly was a lack of room on the schedule. You look at that schedule, there’s no other real logical place for it.
With the cancellation of The Equalizer, the network's new Sunday night lineup in midseason will be comprised of Justin Hartley's Tracker Season 3, a Yellowstone spinoff starring Luke Grimes, and Watson Season 2. Tracker will hold onto the 8 p.m. ET time slot, while Y: Marshals takes over 9 p.m. ET and Watson is pushed back to 10 p.m. ET.
Amy Reisenbach went on to say that she's "fairly confident" the other two dramas will be "very, very big lead-ins" for Watson, then explained why the move could be good for anybody with a Paramount+ subscription:
Watson does really, really well for us on streaming as well. So we expect that viewers who might not catch it at 10 o’clock will catch on streaming because it’s had such a loyal fan base over on Paramount+. We think it’s the best of both worlds.
So, it's not all bad news from CBS about the future of Watson, even if fans will be dismayed with the wait until 2026 to see what's next for John after his shocking decision about Moriarty. Personally, I'm just glad to now think back on something much happier to look forward to from Watson after what happened in the finale for Peter Mark Kendall's character(s).
Peter Mark Kendall On Stephens' Relationships
The majority of the two-part Season 1 finale actually wasn't going great for the Croft twins, to the point that it seemed that one might die and Peter Mark Kendall would only be playing Stephens or Adam in Season 2. Fortunately, both twins survived and Kendall is facing another season playing two main characters. Plus, Stephens went from circling the drain to getting a sweet kiss from Sasha after her emotional speech to him while he was comatose earlier in the finale.
When I spoke with Peter Mark Kendall about the end of Season 1, I asked what it was like for him to film Sasha's big speech to Stephens, with Inga Schlingmann putting on a strong performance while he could only pretend to be in a coma. He shared:
Well, that's the best job in the world, because you don't have any lines to remember, and you just kind of sit there and have someone beautifully act at you. [laughs] No, but it was really meaningful to have a storyline that's been hinted at or kind of subtextual for most of the season come onto the page and come onto the screen. Everybody is just so much fun to act with, and so I hope that there's more to come for Stephens and Sasha, whatever the case may be. It definitely felt like a really cool, cathartic moment to play at the end of the season, when there's been so much 'Will they or won't they?’
In a finale that included the main character ruthlessly killing his nemesis (played by the wonderful Randall Park) and Ingrid possibly working her last case with the team, Sasha and Stephens' lovely moment together was an uplifting moment ahead of Season 2.
The finale two-parter was also key for the twins' relationship, as Adam and Stephens had to face potentially losing the other. They butted heads pretty frequently throughout Season 1, but the pressure was certainly on when they were on death's door! So, will their relationship change after this ordeal? Season 2 may be a ways off, but Peter Mark Kendall shared his thoughts:
Relationships always change, and I imagine the same is true for Croft twins. We've seen them butting heads so much, we've seen them disagree and then have this kind of moment of reckoning at the end of the season. But they're still brothers. I think of them as they're best friends and worst enemies. No one can annoy you and no one can get under your skin like family can. But I think they've grown closer as well. So I think that can ratchet up the ways in which they fight and the ways in which they love each other. [laughs]
As somebody with brothers of my own, I have to agree that no one can get under your skin like family! It remains to be seen if Stephens really will ever have a best man speech for Adam on Watson, but as Peter Mark Kendall went on to say – "Fingers crossed."
With the long wait on for Season 2, fans can always check out the first season of Watson streaming on Paramount+. Hopefully the show inheriting The Equalizer's time slot just a year after Queen Latifah's show was cancelled isn't a bad sign for the future.
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