The panelists were very tight-lipped about the show, but creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat as well as producer Sue Vertue revealed three key names that are related to the fourth season.
- July 25, 2016
AceShowbiz -
"Sherlock" headed to San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday, July 24. Lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch was initially not scheduled to attend the panel, but he eventually joined co-stars Amanda Abbington and Mark Gatiss (also co-creator/executive producer/writer), co-creator/executive producer/writer Steven Moffat and producer Sue Vertue at the event.
They brought the first trailer for the fourth season, teasing the possible return of Moriarty (Andrew Scott). "Something is coming. Maybe it's Moriarty, maybe it's not," Sherlock says. Whatever it is, it will put out favorite characters in danger. "Everything they know will be tested. Everyone they know is under threat," the video warns.
"The roads we walk have demons beneath, and yours have been waiting for a very long time," Mycroft tells his brother. There's a glimpse of nurses marching as a beard-sporting Sherlock looks traumatized. The trailer also confirms that the new season will arrive in 2017.
At the panel, the team insisted, "We're not saying anything." They indeed were tight-lipped about the fourth season, but Abbington said, "It's really dark. It's the darkest that Steven and Mark have written. When we read them, all of us, we were kind of overwhelmed by them because they were shocking and amazing as always."
Cumberbatch revealed they're "quite a few tears" in the new episodes, adding, "It's a genuine emotional roller coaster. The learning curves, they're massive." Of Sherlock's relationship with his brother Mycroft, Gatiss said, "A lot of things are resolved. A lot of things are raised."
They also threw out three key names to tease season 4: "Thatcher," "Smith" and "Sherrinford."
Addressing the show's future, Gatiss managed to give the crowd quite a shock with a cruel joke. "We can exclusively reveal that there will not be a series five...but there will be a series six," he said. Asked if the stars would return for season 5, Moffat also played with fans' emotions as jokingly saying, "Why is everybody assuming they survive season four? We told you it was dark."
