'Sherlock' Showrunner Teases a 'Dark and Frightening' Season 4

Fans cannot get enough of BBC's surprise hit series, Sherlock, and it seems like a long and arduous wait until its season four finally makes its way to the small screen sometime in 2016. For now, show runner Steven Moffatt has teased fans that the show's season four is sure to be "darker" and "more frightening" than its last seasons.

When Season 3 left off, Sherlock's nemesis, James Moriarty, left a posthumous message "Miss me?" all over London. It won't be tackled with during the standalone Christmas special episode this year, according to Moffat, since he said the episode will tell a very specific story.

He compared all the seasons they've made so far of Sherlock. The first one built and cemented the friendship of Sherlock and Dr. Watson, the second one focused on the"formative stages, the love and fear and loss and all that."

The third was happier, since it showed the "golden days" of Sherlock, Watson, and his wife. What Moffat found missing in different Sherlock adaptations was humor, so they tried to make the series funny. But season four will be completely different than the first three seasons.

"Season 4 is going to be... I suppose you'd say... consequences. It's consequences," he 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. It's not a safe, sensible way to live."

The upcoming season will balance extreme emotions, according to Moffat. One day it's hilarious and exhilarating, and suddenly it will become "bloody frightening."

After watching the latest season, Moffat guaranteed that fans will be "desperate" for season five. "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," he mulled.

However, Moffat did say that season four will answer some questions that nobody has actually asked. He and co-creator Mark Gatiss actually feel "exultant" that they managed to pull it off - have a secret in the series that nobody touched on.

Moffat clarified that they are not trying to be clever, and he is actually afraid that some people might get upset because things that seem trivial to them are actually deal breakers for certain fans, and vice versa.