Sherlock fans, we have terrible news.
After getting hopes up that the detective extraordinaire could be back on our screens soon, co-creator Mark Gatiss has now poured water on the idea.
The show ran for four three-part series between 2010 and 2017 – plus a Victorian-era special in 2016 – and fans have been clamouring for a comeback ever since.
Gatiss, who made the show alongside Doctor Who legend Steven Moffat, has explained why returning to the BBC crime drama based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective would be ‘difficult’.
He spoke about Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s possible return at the Italian Global Series Festival, saying: ‘Going back is often very difficult.’
When he was then pressed on why no more episodes of the show have been forthcoming, he said (via RadioTimes): ‘Because Benedict and Martin didn’t want to do anymore.’
It comes after Cumberbatch, 48, revealed exactly what needs to happen for him to return to Sherlock.
‘It would take it to be better than it ever was,’ he told Variety. ‘You leave them or yourselves wanting more.’
He admitted ‘there’s always that itch to scratch’, but any potential return would need to ‘be the superlative version of what we’ve already achieved’.
Moffat has also insisted the show can’t return if Cumberbatch and Freeman don’t clear their schedules.
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‘I’m sorry. I think people would be up in arms if we tried to recast either of them or do [it] without either of them. I think people want those guys – that’s our show,’ he told Metro.
‘I don’t mean that that’s the only version of Sherlock Holmes that can be.
‘There are lots of other versions of Sherlock Holmes (and so there should be, I’ll watch all of them) but our version of Sherlock Holmes is Benedict and Martin.
‘So if they don’t want to do it or can’t do it, then there is no more Sherlock. That’s it.’
Metro has contacted Cumberbatch and Freeman’s representatives for comment.
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