The @Sherlock Twitter posted this ^^ photo today. I love it! But I mostly love it because I love big dogs with floppy ears and sad faces. This is a preview image for the fourth season of Sherlock, which Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are filming now. They spent several months last year filming the one-off Christmas special called The Abominable Bride. Yesterday, The Abominable Bride got six Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding TV Movie and Outstanding Lead Actor in a TV Movie for Benedict. And that happened without Benedict really lifting a finger. He barely even promoted the Christmas special last year! And he certainly didn’t do multiple interviews in the trade papers ahead of the nominations.
Meanwhile, Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat has a new interview with The Telegraph. You can read the whole piece here. He basically says that the fourth season of Sherlock might be the last. He confirms that Toby Jones is playing the villain in the new season, but mostly he’s just saying that this fourth season (coming out next year) will be the last episodes we see for a while.
Sherlock might end soon: “I don’t know how long we can keep it going. I’m personally willing but I’m hardly the main draw. I would be moderately surprised if this was the last time we ever made this show. But it absolutely could be.”
The Abominable Bride was huge: A Victorian-themed special episode, which aired in the New Year, was seen by more than 12 million viewers on BBC One. BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm, revealed this week that the ninety-minute festive special, The Abominable Bride, was the corporation’s biggest overseas export in the past year. The Abominable Bride has been sold to broadcasters in 216 international territories over the past twelve months. It was also released in cinemas across the world, selling over 190,000 tickets in America and Canada, and topping box offices in Russia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China.
Freeman & Cumberbatch don’t do Sherlock for the money: “We do have two film stars in the programme. They haven’t needed to do these jobs for a very long time. They’re coming back because they want to. I’m amazed that we’ve got this far. I thought that once they had become extremely successful, we would only get to do one more series. There’s never going to come a time when we do a longer run, because this is what the series has become. It’s an occasional treat where you get three movies. It’s how it works.”
He leaves open the possibility of stopping for several years & coming back: “That’s why I think it’s unlikely that we’ve completely finished it. There would be nothing strange in stopping for a while. It could go on forever, coming back now and again.”
I was one of the few defenders of the third season – I liked the way they handled Sherlock coming back to London, and I really did enjoy the wedding episode too. It went off the rails with “His Last Vow,” and then the Christmas special cemented the derailment of the series. While I’m looking forward to the fourth season and I hope they return to the brilliance of Seasons 1 and 2, if not, that’s fine. I’m fine with Season 4 being the last we see of Sherlock, or the last we see of him for five years or whatever.
Photos courtesy of WENN, @Sherlock Twitter.
Soooooo indefinite hiatus?
Good riddance.
The show lost its quality after season 1.
I’m not surprised at all, but I’m sorry to hear it. Seasons 1 and 2 remain some of the very best things I’ve ever seen on TV. It would be so great if they could get that magic back, but if not…..sigh….I guess we’ll always have Netflix.
WE NEED A MORIARTY SPIN OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andrew Scott was brilliant…that is all.
I’d be down with a Moriarty spin off, if only to force Moffatt and Gatiss to focus on something else on Sherlock. Moriarty was great up through the end of the 2nd series, but enough already.
That dog! He’s a beaut.
Seriously. That’s a handsome pooch.
Could that be Redbeard?
I love Sherlock but I have to think they have to be burning out by now, They are running out of ideas… hence the decline in the writing and plot points.
Step away for a while, and leave the door open to come back when you’ve missed it long enough.
This makes me sad. I hope they manage to create some kind of special every two years or so…which is how they’re handling things now anyway.
ugh good because Benedict Cumberbatch’s ego needs a little deflation. Can’t stand him any more! And..the last couple of ‘episodes’ have been nowhere near as good as the first two seasons.
Puppy!!!
I think given Cumberbatch’s schedule it would be very hard (particularly once Doctor Strange hits, he’s just going to get bigger). I’d love to see a revival in a few years, I’m good either way.
Season 3 was heinous and the Christmas “special” was total gash.
Love the bloodhound though, he might be worth a watch
I thought Steven Moffat was stepping down or was that on DoctorWho?
I never saw the Christmas special but I will probably watch season 4…along as no fan fiction is present.
Moffat left Doctor Who.
Good riddance.
Yeah he needed to leave that show. I do love that as soon as he left they picked a companion that doesn’t fit his usual mold #butthatsnoneofmybusiness
Felice, that godawful Bill girl??
Wasn’t the fifth season already confirmed??
They (Freeman and Cumberbatch) may come back for the fans and not the money, but they won’t come back for lacklustre scripts.
Moffatt & Co just couldn’t keep up the standard after the huge post-season 2 hype. I didn’t like season 3 much (the wedding episode was ok), and that Christmas special was really bad storywise.
For me, the acting is still good (thats why I’m ok with Bendy’s Emmy nom) and shame Paul McGuigan didn’t return as a director after season 2, but the thing thats dragging it down is the writing.
I cannot believe how hyped I was for season 3 of Sherlock. And then it was……that. They are just making audiences wait too long. Like no one is going to wait around for a TV show .. specially a weak ass TV show for 2 years.
I’m here for the coat. That lovely, lovely coat…
I was overwhelmed when I saw series 1 and was in love with Sherlock at once. It lasted until series 2, after that it was over….
I think it was Moffat who ruined it. Maybe he should retire, I did not like what he did to Doctor Who either.
Ha, you know you are a serious animal lover when you swoon at the dog and barely notice the actor. And it should be noted, that the bloodhound in question has a better profile than BC 🙂
I hope season 4 will right the wrongs of season 3… I have recently rewatched seasons 1&2 and absolutely enjoyed the experience. The Abominable Bride wasn’t THAT awful, by the way, but I definitely didn’t see anything in TAB’s Sherlock that would warrant Cumberbatch this Emmy nom.
I still enjoy the show very much, and I’m totally cool with “occasional treats” and hiatuses. I don’t think it has derailed at all, it’s still the cleverest show out there, IMO.
Everybody keeps talking about his tight schedule years ahead, but what exactly is he doing (besides Doctor Strange, of course)? I’ve never heard of a project related with his name worth mentioning twice. But that’s just me. ?
He is probably in Infinity Wars, which begins filming in November, but he has no other scheduled acting projects announced
So I keep wondering what’s in that tight schedule ??
More shoe store openings?
The deterioration in that show almost makes me weep. Because it was so good, and then became so bad. The Abominable Bride was genuinely sacrilege. Can’t even muster a care about Series 4, let alone anything beyond that.