New comments from Sherlock series 4 co-star Martin Freeman reveal that there are plans to film the beloved drama early next year.

However, Freeman says that the new Sherlock script will be for a Christmas Special which will air at the end of 2015.

“If that’s going to be a special – I’m speaking off-message here; if this was New Labour I’d get fired – I think that might be for next Christmas,” he told The Telegraph. “A Christmas special. That’s what I understand.”

According to The Telegraph, Freeman said that this shoot will not be a for a full series, but the chances of this Christmas Special happening are “pretty likely.”

In April, Freeman said that a “mouth-watering” Sherlock special was in development, but it’s not clear if this newly-mentioned Christmas Special and the one-off special he spoke about two months ago are the same.

Come Christmas 2015 it’ll have been two years since Sherlock series 3 aired. So, it looks like the gap in between series 3 and series 4 will be our longest wait yet between new episodes of the detective drama.

Time and time again the cast and crew of Sherlock have said that the delay between series is due to their conflicting schedules. An example: Freeman and lead star Benedict Cumberbatch are appearing in separate London stage plays over the next year.

The good news is that according to producer Mark Gatiss, filming dates for Sherlock series 4 are being narrowed down. So it is happening… at some point.

For now, all we can do is look forward to this new Sherlock Christmas Special and hope that it has much more Cumberbatch than the last one did. Hey, Moffat, can this thing at least serve as a prequel to series 4?