Spoilers ahead for the Season 1 finale of Watson on CBS, called "My Life's Work, Part 2" and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
The first season of Watson has come to an end in the 2025 TV schedule, and the final few minutes of "My Life's Work, Part 2" left me happier than ever that Morris Chestnut's freshman drama was renewed for Season 2 early. Not only did the team manage to save both Croft twins, but John guaranteed that Moriarty won't be able to use his twisted DNA science against another person ever again... by letting him die.
But is Randall Park's character – THE James Moriarty – truly gone for good? I asked showrunner Craig Sweeny that very question, and he cleared the air.
Watson's Big Moriarty Twist
Normally, it would seem odd to wonder if a character who died on camera is actually really, truly, 100% dead, but Watson did start with Moriarty presumably dead after going over a waterfall, only to reveal that he was still alive after all. The man had a knack for surviving and coming back with a vengeance, even blackmailing Ingrid and Shinwell to his cause. Well, that proved to be his downfall, with John finding a way to turn his own DNA technology against Moriarty, prompting Moriarty to blindly stumble into the hospital for treatment.
And Watson, being Watson, of course treated the big bad of the series in exchange for the means to save Stephens, and the finale seemed like it would end with everybody living: the little girl with cancer, Stephens (with a kiss from Sasha to boot), and Moriarty, presumably surviving to disappear and then come back with another deadly plot to wreak havoc on John's life in Season 2 and beyond.
Plot twist! John was savvy enough to prevent that from happening, although solving a problem like Moriarty required breaking an oath. The good doctor saved his enemy from the increasing blindness, but not from the effects that left him on the verge of stroking out and dying. Moriarty's final blow was to take his secrets with him to the grave, but Watson did indeed just sit by his bedside and watch him die. The man who was set up as the big villain of Watson was dead by the end of the first season.
Craig Sweeny Set The Record Straight
If you're anything like me, even seeing Moriarty's life drain away didn't make you 100% confident that the man who had faked his death once and was based on such an infamous Arthur Conan Doyle villain was truly gone for good. After all, the showrunner had only great things to say about what went into casting Randall Park as Moriarty. Luckily, when I spoke with creator/showrunner Craig Sweeny, he unambiguously said "Yes" when asked if that really was the death of Moriarty.
When I noted that it would be harder to fake a death in a hospital as opposed to falling over a waterfall, Sweeny responded:
With the world's most brilliant doctor right in front of you instead of passed out! No, it's not one where I want to be cagey. I think the character of Moriarty, the things he's done and things he caused Watson to do will continue to hover over the show, but that is the conclusion of his time as a human on this planet.
With Watson as a pretty grounded show and Sweeny not wanting to be "cagey," I think even the most paranoid viewers don't need to suspect that the EP's phrasing of Moriarty's "time as a human on this planet" is a clue that he's coming back as a ghost! In all seriousness, the finale already ended with some clues about the aftermath of Moriarty's plot.
For one, I doubt that John putting all of the Moriarty notes in a box under a bed is a sign that the case is closed for good, and he was pondering that polo shirt. Plus, Ingrid helping Moriarty nearly led to Stephens' death. While he forgave her, he also told her that he couldn't work with her anymore and she needed to leave.
We'll have to wait until Season 2 in midseason next year to see for ourselves, but Craig Sweeny confirmed that John's decision to let a patient die – even though that patient was Moriarty – is going to stick with him. He said:
It goes against his every instinct as a doctor. Ideally, we created sort of the perfect confluence of circumstances where he could see this as nothing but the right choice, primarily based on the DNA that Moriarty already had and the fact that he could do to anyone in the world, essentially what he had just done to the twins. It was almost more [that] the only way to put that toothpaste back in the tube was to do what Watson did.
Watson ran down a list of ways that Moriarty had wronged him personally, caused harm to others, and would have the potential to kill even more people if allowed to live, so he certainly didn't come to the decision lightly. Still, he did seem to relish Moriarty's death to a certain degree.
Sure, we as fans can vicariously cheer John on as he informs Moriarty that his vision has been restored just enough that his will be the last face that the bad guy ever sees, but that doesn't mean the character can shake it off so easily in the long run. Sweeny went on:
I can certainly make the argument for it as the head writer in the universe, but I think Watson is not completely comfortable with the decision. It definitely will have ramifications. It will cause him to question his own belief in who he is, which is a great, fruitful place as a writer to start thinking about a character arc for a second season.
It seems unlikely that letting Moriarty die is the beginning of an arc of Watson continuing to cross ethical lines whenever convenient. When I mentioned that there wasn't really a "do no harm" scenario for Watson when the choices were to let a man die or let that man live to go on and commit atrocities, Craig Sweeny responded:
Hopefully! If that's what you were getting, then that makes me feel good, because that's what we were trying to create.
So, when can fans expect the doctor/detective drama to return to CBS for Season 2? Well, the good news is that Watson's next season isn't being pushed back a year like Matthew Gray Gubler's Einstein, but the network's recent schedule reveal confirmed that Watson will premiere in midseason yet again.
This means that Morris Chesnut and Co. won't be back until early 2026, and will switch to the 10 p.m. ET time slot on CBS Sundays, formerly occupied by Queen Latifah's The Equalizer prior to its cancellation. In the meantime, you can always revisit the full first season streaming on Paramount+.
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