Steven Moffat, the co-creator of the BBC hit television series "Sherlock," has confirmed that the filming of the show's fourth season will not start until spring of next year.
If all goes according to plan for the creators, then fans of the series will probably get to watch the first episode of the upcoming season sometime in January of 2017. This predicted timeline puts a three-year gap between the third and fourth seasons of "Sherlock."
Despite the long break, the show's creators and stars remain tight-lipped as to what fans can expect for the upcoming season. However, back in March, Moffat hinted that the fourth season will include darker storylines as compared to the show's previous episodes.
"'Series four' is going to be...I suppose you'd say...consequences," he told Entertainment Weekly. "It's consequences. Chickens come to roost. "It's dark in some ways - obviously it's great fun and Sherlock Holmes romp and all that - but there's a sense of things coming back to bite you."
Although nothing has been confirmed yet, some sources speculated that the fourth season will see the return of Jim Moriarty even though he killed himself in the third season, Latin Post reported.
Another theory suggests that John Watson and his wife Mary might suffer through rough times involving their growing family. As for the titular character, the consequences of Holmes' actions in the past might come back to haunt him.
As for the show's cast, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are still set to return as Holmes and his sidekick Watson.
For fans who are clamoring for a bit of "Sherlock" experience, the creators have previously announced that they are working on releasing a Christmas special based on the show. Filming of the special episode began in January and was concluded in February of this year.
Moffat explained that the Christmas episode is set in Victorian London and has a storyline of its own, which means it's not related to the main plot of the "Sherlock" series.
The "Sherlock" standalone episode still does not have an official premiere date but it is scheduled to air in December of this year.
