Martin Freeman Teases 'Sherlock' One-Off Special, Implies We Might Wait a While for Series 4
Star Martin Freeman, who’s been doing the media rounds of late in support of his new FX series Fargo, has been, predictably, getting asked quite a bit about when we might expect to see the next season of everyone’s favorite (consulting) detective drama. His answers have shed some light on the current situation, offering equally intriguing and depressing tidbits about what the next season of the show might look like. (And when we might see it.)
Late last week, Freeman told Digital Spy that initial plans to film more Sherlock following the conclusion of his run as Richard III in the West End this summer had fallen through.
"It's very hard to get together," he said. "But it's one of those things where you have to at some point just go, 'We're going to do it now' - otherwise we could be having this conversation in three years.
It’s no secret that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to coordinate the schedules of both Freeman and his co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, who are currently two of the biggest stars working today. Then there’s also the fact that co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are a bit busy working on the eighth series of this little sci-fi property called Doctor Who and, well. It’s kind of an understandable mess. In fact, even though Moffat and Gatiss have stated that they’ve mapped out a fourth and fifth season of Sherlock already, the drama hasn’t actually been officially renewed by the BBC yet. (Don’t worry, it clearly will be, but it’s doubtful that will be announced until more official plans are in place.)
But what exactly will the next season of Sherlock look like? Well, according to Freeman, we could see a one-off special episode.
"Mark Gatiss may beat me up," Freeman told Alan Carr at the recording of Friday's Chatty Man for Channel 4 per the Radio Times, "but there is an idea for this one-off special that’s such a good idea, and as I was listening to it I thought 'we’ve just got to do this'. And I don’t know when we are going to be able to do it, unfortunately.”
No, he doesn’t explain whether this one-off special would be in addition to a Series 4 or what exactly, in terms of scheduling. Such an episode could be a random one-off – as British shows will do those now and again – or it could be a Christmas special at some point. It’s anyone’s guess what these comments from Freeman mean – but Gatiss has made no secret that Conan Doyle story The Blue Carbuncle, which is set at Christmas and involves a goose and a stolen gemstone, is one of his personal favorites.
Either way, Freeman also seems to have reaffirmed on Carr’s chat show that fans may be waiting for some time to see the return of Holmes and Watson on their screens.
"It's not only us two, it's Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, the writers and creators, we are all very busy,” Freeman explained. “So in all honesty, and I'm not being cute here, I don't know. I really, really don't know. Steven and Mark have a great idea for something we could do next which they told [Cumberbatch] and I. It's a fantastic, really mouthwatering idea.”
Here’s hoping that, whatever comes next for Sherlock, whether it’s a one off or a full series, we deal with the outlying Moriarty and Mary business, pretty much immediately. Thanks.
What do you think of the idea of a one off Sherlock special? Or would you rather wait for a full series?
