That production on Sherlock season four was a logistical nightmare is no secret. Aside from co-creator Steven Moffat’s commitments to Doctor Who, stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman both popped up in a much larger global entertainment behemoth — the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The latter’s Everett Ross turned up in Captain America: Civil War, and will probably appear in Black Panther and additional Marvel films in a supporting role. But Cumberbatch? The man played the titular Doctor Strange, a soon-to-be member of the studios’ tentpole superhero team the Avengers, so it’s safe to say he’s pretty busy.
As a result, speculation about the popular modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s deductive detective has been rampant throughout 2016. Based on a statement issued by Moffat in April, many concluded Sherlock season four would be its last. And thanks to comments made by series co-creator Mark Gatiss to TV Line, it seems the likelihood of a fifth season is all but null:
Gatiss says “we honestly don’t know” if this season will be the last. “These three [episodes], we’ve very, very pleased with them. And everybody’s very keen to carry on. It’s just genuinely difficult to schedule everyone’s diaries. It was a nightmare to schedule this season… and that’s not going to go away. I mean, the success of Doctor Strange is not going to make Benedict short of work.”
Considering Doctor Strange‘s mid-credits sequence and its ties to Thor: Ragnarok, Cumberbatch’s cameo in the third Thor film is all but guaranteed at this point. As for Avengers: Infinity War, a recently leaked cast list names the British actor among the dozens of other names Marvel is trying to cram into its next tentpole.
So to the surprise of absolutely no one, a fifth Sherlock season seems out of the question thanks to the cinematic exploits of magic-wielding superheros and the slick-haired bureaucrats trying to contain them. No sh…
(Via TV Line)
