Sherlock

The time between Sherlock seasons generally ensures that each installment will go big, and few gut punches hit like the major death in the climax of Season 4 premiere “The Six Thatchers.” Once the shock wears off, showrunner Steven Moffat has an explanation for why the show needed to spell out something the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels never did.

Sherlock dealt Season 4 quite a blow with January 1 premiere “The Six Thatchers,” but will the world’s greatest detective and Watson recover in time to deal with Toby Jones’ Culverton Smith? That’s the question posed by next week’s “The Lying Detective,” as the first trailer teases that Sherlock will be adding to the kills under his belt.

Sherlock will get back into the swing of things on New Year’s Day, but Season 4 may need another week or so for things to really hit the fan. Our first synopsis for Season 4 midpoint “The Lying Detective” has arrived, as Benedict Cumberbatch’s high-functioning sociopath comes to tangle with Toby Jones’ ominous Culverton Smith.

Just a few days’ time will see Sherlock making a long-awaited return with “The Six Thatchers,” but fans still feel a certain unease with Season 4's air of finality. We’ve heard Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Steven Moffat weighing in, and now star and writer Mark Gatiss says Sherlock could run another decade … but probably won’t.

Sherlock Holmes isn’t generally pop culture’s go-to for a dashing hero, but once upon a time, neither was Benedict Cumberbatch. Now, Sherlock creator Steven Moffat jokes that even Cumberbatch’s mother thought he was wrong for the part, also providing an update on those ever-swirling final season rumors.

Three years will have passed for Sherlock when Season 4 picks up in January (to say nothing of The Abominable Bride in 2016), and fans have been well-warned that the Benedict Cumberbatch-Martin Freeman series could return intermittently in the years to come. Cumberbatch himself seemed to suggest that Season 4 might be the last for some time, if ever, but creator Steven Moffat isn’t quite so sure.

Sherlock Season 4 is shaping up to be a big one, between a theatrical release and the latest trailer, but will our 2017 premiere dive right into the Moriarty cliffhanger that ended Season 3? Perhaps not, as our full synopsis for “The Six Thatchers” teases an update on a classic tale, along with a deeper exploration of Mary’s past.

Now that the finale of Sherlock Season 4 has turned into a theatrical event, it’s high-time we got some new footage. Thankfully, The BBC obliges with a dark new trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s return, complete with mysterious declarations of love.

Sherlock likely knows its fourth season premiere will soothe your New Years’ hangover, but will you recover enough by the finale to venture out? Put on a pot of coffee and down some aspirin, as Season 4 finale “The Final Problem” will have a theatrical release for Sherlock and co.

The scope of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock stories often provides fodder for some of the odder sight gags of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s adaptation, and Season 4 may be no different. It seems as if 221b Baker Street has sprung a leak in a cryptic new teaser and poster for the 2017 return.