Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat spoke with EW this week and teased a few aspects of series 4.
While Moffat, as usual, didn’t want to spoil any big elements since we’re still so far away from Sherlock series 4’s premiere (expected to be at the end of this year), he did say more than you would’ve expected.
For example, while they haven’t started writing the new episodes yet, Moffat says he and co-creator/co-star Mark Gatiss have added something to series 4 that no one will expect:
There are answers coming to questions which nobody has asked. There’s one thing that no one has really brought up…
Moffat also summed up series 4 with one word.
[Season 4] is going to be… I suppose you’d say… consequences. It’s consequences. Chickens come to roost. It’s dark in some ways—obviously it’s great fun and a Sherlock Holmes romp and all that—but there’s a sense of… things… coming back to bite you. It’s not a safe, sensible way to live. It’s hilarious and exhilarating some days, but some days it’s going to be bloody frightening.
Finally, and least surprisingly, Moffat says fans will be clamoring for series 5 once they watch the series 4 finale:
Hmmm… desperate for series 5. We’re certainly going to put them through the mill. It’s going to be more of an emotional upheaval. Hopefully enjoyable and fun, all the things Sherlock must always be. It will be tough at times. Maybe that’s the word? A tougher series.
Elsewhere in his interview with EW, Moffat spoke out about PBS’ decision to not air Sherlock on the same day it airs in the U.K. “I think it’s absolute bloody nonsense,” he said, “the audience is not prepared to wait. [Somebody] recently said, ‘If I want something and it’s not available, I think it’s the vendor’s fault.’ With Doctor Who we pretty much have that—certainly with Britain and America, it comes out the same day. Doing that ended an awful lot of the piracy.”
American Sherlock fans can rest easy knowing the creator — and stars like Benedict Cumberbatch — are eager for the show to air on the same day.
As for that Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover everyone is clamoring for, Moffat admits that he was actually interested in moving forward with the idea!
… But unfortunately, the Sherlock team was less enthused. “My instinct — and this is probably from years of doing Doctor Who — is I’m just such a tart. If people want to, we should give it to them,” he said. “But I got persuaded by Mark, Benedict, [executive producer Sue Vertue] and Martin [Freeman] saying, ‘Look, it will never be as good as they think it’s going to be,’ and then I say, ‘Yes, but we’ll just bang it out and make it as good.’ ‘Yeah, but you can’t give everybody everything they want all the time.’ I’m in the camp of giving them everything they want. But I think they’re sane and right and I’m just a tart.'”
So for now, we only have this fan-made crossover special to enjoy:
