It's been almost six years since the final episode of Sherlock, the series that made a household name of Benedict Cumberbatch hit UK screens. In the meantime, the star power of Cumberbatch and his co-star Martin Freeman has only continued to rise: the former has had two Oscar nominations and sits as one of the shiniest jewels in Marvel's glistening crown, and the latter led The Hobbit. Not bad. But now, after years of speculation around a Sherlock follow-up, the showrunner on the mystery series seems ready for a belated reunion.
Speaking about his West End debut The Unfriend on BBC's Today this morning, the writer said that he would “start writing [a new series of Sherlock] tomorrow" if Freeman and Cumberbatch were to return (h/t Deadline). “They're on to bigger and better things but, Martin and Benedict, please come back,” he joked.
The fourth and presently final season, which aired in January 2017, received a markedly mixed reception compared to the critically acclaimed series before it. “The Final Problem,” the explosive last episode of the series, saw Cumberbatch's titular detective confronted by his estranged sister, Eurus (Sian Brooke), an insane super-genius confined to a maximum-security prison in the North Sea. While some critics were bowled over by the heightened melodrama of it all, others decried it as a contrived mess, with The Daily Mirror calling for a return to the “fairly believable mysteries” of the show's earlier seasons.
Freeman, who played Sherlock's right-hand man John Watson across the entire run of the series, has previously expressed that Sherlock is “never a completely shut door,” noting his interest if the material is right. (Better than season four, then.)
Moffat has previously said that whether Sherlock gets to a fifth season depends on the availability of Cumberbatch and Freeman: “[It] rather depends on our two stars,” he wrote in a Facebook post back in January 2019 (h/t Digital Spy). “I'd be slightly surprised if we never made it again. But I've been surprised before.” Now he's putting some pressure on the lads, maybe we'll finally see a return to Baker Street…
