It has been three years since fans have seen Sherlock return for a full season. “The Abominable Bride” was released this January, making the special period episode the first in years. In a few months, fans will finally see Sherlock premiere its fourth season in 2017, but could it be the last? According to Benedict Cumberbatch, it could.
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The actor recently spoke with GQ and said Season 4 feels like it’s the “end of an era.”
“It feels like the end of an era, to be honest. [Season 4] goes to a place where it will be pretty hard to follow on immediately,” Cumberbatch said. “We never say never on the show. I’d love to revisit it, I’d love to keep revisiting it, I stand by that. But in the immediate future we all have things that we want to crack on with and we’ve made something very complete as it is, so I think we’ll just wait and see. The idea of never playing him again is really galling.”
Unsurprisingly, this is not the kind of news fans were hoping to hear from the British actor. Sherlock, which debuted in 2010, quickly became a cult hit amongst audiences who were intrigued by the modernized Sherlockian tales. The series brought actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman into the public consciousness, skyrocketing them to international fame as the series continued.
Of course, the pair’s popularity did backfire on the series somewhat. As Cumberbatch and Freeman continued to nab roles, shooting on Sherlock became much more difficult to schedule. Between the first and second season, a year and a half separated filming. That time grew to two years for the third season, and now three years have passed between the third and fourth seasons.
Sherlock recently wrapped production on its fourth season, and much of the cast attended a fan convention based on the show not long after. It was there that BBC revealed the first two episode titles of the fourth season: “The Six Thatchers” and “The Lying Detective.” They are keeping the last episode title secret, no doubt because it was contain massive spoilers.
However, the first two episodes do contain a few teasers themselves.
Fans will know “The Six Thatchers” since it’s been seen on Dr. John H. Watson’s personal blog, an official spin-off site hosted by the BBC. The peripheral site has an entry entitled “The Six Thatchers” from December 19th.
And, what’s more, “The Six Thatchers” also appears to be connected to an original Sherlock Holmes story titled “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.” As for “The Lying Detective,” the episode will reportedly be loosely based off one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous stories, “The Adventure of the Dying Detective.” This short storysees Sherlock fake a terminal illness to coerce a guilty confession from an unhinged murdered.
Before these episode titles were released, the series teased fans with the first official photo from the fourth season.
So, what do you think? Will Sherlock wrap with its upcoming season or do you think Cumberbatch and Freeman could return for a fifth season down the line? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
[H/T] Entertainment Weekly
