CBS Reveals Fate of Morris Chestnut’s ‘Watson’

Although at least four CBS shows will not live to see the 2025-26 season, Morris Chestnut’s Watson will be one of the many coming back.

Variety reports that the freshman medical drama has been renewed for a second season.

Also starring Eve Harlow, Peter Mark Kendall, Inga Schlingmann, Ritchie Coster, and Rochelle Aytes, Watson takes place six months after the death of Detective Sherlock Holmes at the hands of Moriarty. Chestnut’s titular doctor resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. However, as Watson’s old life isn’t done with him, he and Moriarty “are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century.”

The series had a nice jumpstart, premiering after the AFC Championship in January. The pilot has since reached 18.7 million viewers in multiplatform viewing in Live+35, per CBS. Watson has been averaging 6.79 million viewers per episode. News of the renewal comes just seven episodes into the first season. Craig Sweeney serves as showrunner and executive producing. Chestnut, Sallie Patrick, Larry Teng, Shäron Moalem, PhD, Aaron Kaplan for Kapital Entertainment, and Brian Morewitz also executive produce, while CBS Studios produces.

Watson is the latest series to be renewed by CBS. Fellow freshman shows Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Matlock, and NCIS: Origins were also given the greenlight for Season 2. Other shows renewed for the 2025-26 season include Fire Country, NCIS, NCIS: Sydney, Tracker, and Elsbeth. Sitcom The Neighborhood was given a renewal for an eighth and final season, while Ghosts was given a two-season renewal. FBI was renewed for three seasons last spring.

Fellow freshman series Poppa’s House and Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer are still awaiting news, while S.W.A.T., FBI: Most Wanted, and FBI: International were canceled and will be ending after their current eighth, sixth, and fourth seasons, respectively. It’s unknown when CBS could make decisions about Poppa’s House or The Equalizer, but it’s likely to be soon. The Equalizer might have a better chance of coming back, as CBS is also setting up a potential spinoff, but for now, it really could go in any direction.

At the very least, fans of Watson should be pretty happy that the series has another season, and they can still look forward to more episodes airing on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET following Tracker.