Fans will have to be patient for "Sherlock" season 4. Although the Christmas special has been scheduled for a release later this year, the actual three-episode run will reportedly be making its return in 2017.
Nevertheless, producer Steven Moffat promised to deliver an exciting new season even though they "haven't started writing it yet".
"[Season 4] is going to be... I suppose you'd say... consequences. It's consequences," Moffat recently told Entertainment Weekly. "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."
He also added that it's going to be "bloody frightening."
"Sherlock" season 4 will be so dark and devastating, that fans will be "desperate for series 5" after watching it.
"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," he added.
But why do the lead stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman keep coming back to play Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively? After all, they're already big shot Hollywood actors with several movie projects lined up for them.
According to Moffat, it's the acting challenge that keep them drawn to the show, because otherwise, they "wouldn't come and play with us".
"They don't need the money," the showrunner revealed. "What we give them in terms of money isn't something they'd regard as a significant fee anymore. We're making this in a shed in Wales. We think really carefully about giving them something to play because they're both amazing actors."
The Christmas special seems to be another challenge for the pair. Instead of continuing with the show's trademark modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic stories, Moffat and co-producer Mark Gatiss prepared a Victorian-era episode - a sort of shout-out for the original time and setting of the "Sherlock Holmes" series.
The special episode will have to tide fans over until "Sherlock" season 4 officially premieres in the next couple of years.
