‘Sherlock’ Season 3 Spoilers: “The Empty Hearse” Return Revealed?

Yesterday, 'Sherlock' season 3 released its heartbreakingly sad first official photo, teasing the reunion between leads Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but it seems the grand return of Sherlock Holmes to John Watson's life will have even more drama than we've realized. The first official episode synopsis for January 19 return "The Empty Hearse" has arrived, and we can imagine why John won't be too happy!

While the time between 'Sherlock' seasons, John Watson's mustache and romance with Mary Morstan (Freeman's own real-life partner, Amanda Abbington) had given us a clue that Sherlock kept his survival from John and his other loved ones for a time, the first synopsis of "The Empty Hearse" reveals a much larger time jump than we'd originally considered:

Two years after the devastating events of 'The Reichenbach Fall', John appears to have got on with his life. New horizons and romance beckon. But, with London under threat of a devastating terrorist attack, Sherlock is about to take John at his word, staging his resurrection with all the theatricality that comes so naturally to him. If Sherlock thinks everything will be just as he left it, though, he's in for a very big surprise...

Meanwhile, in addition to the footage screened and details gleaned at Comic-Con, we most recently learned of season 3 that Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen (brother to ‘Hannibal”s Mads Mikkelsen) has joined in the villainous role of “Charles Augustus Magnussen,” a character with no direct literary counterpart, but one that likely corresponds to 1904 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.”

Follow-up episode “The Sign of Three” will feature an oft-discussed wedding, while “The Last Vow” will air on February 2. The BBC has yet to commission an official ‘Sherlock’ season 4, though reportedly Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have both signed on for the follow-up, in spite of their increasingly busy schedules.

What say you? Will John be able to forgive Sherlock, despite the impressive two-year gap in which the famed detective has been considered dead? What might the high-functioning sociopath have been doing in all that time? Check out a tease of 'Sherlock''s return below, and give us your predictions in the comments!