SHERLOCK Season 4 Definitely Won't Arrive Until 2017 At The Earliest

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman's popularity has skyrocketed in the six years since they began work on the BBC series Sherlock, so fans have become used to the idea of waiting a long time between seasons of the modern mystery show. We just saw the release of the holiday special Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (review here) a few weeks ago, so hopefully that'll be enough to tide fans over until 2017, because that's the earliest opportunity we'll have to see season 4.

Zap2It was at the TCA press tour and spoke with PBS president Paula Kerger, who gave a brief update about the planned release of the show's fourth season:

"We do have the next ‘Sherlock’ announced, that is coming up about a year from now. As you know, Benedict has gotten to be somewhat popular since we began our work with him, and he very much wants to continue with ‘Sherlock.’ As you know, they are produced almost like films, and we’re hoping the next one will be about a year from now."

This isn't new news — we wrote about this timetable eight months ago — but it's just confirmation that fans will have to continue to be patient to see how Sherlock, Watson, and the rest of the gang handle the "return" of Moriarty.