‘Sherlock’ season 3 finale spoilers: Lars Mikkelsen on playing Charles Augustus Magnussen

Are you ready for the “Sherlock” finale? If you live in Britain, then we have to hope that the answer to that is “yes.” There’s not much time left to prepare, and moving forward, you’re going to be waiting for quite a long time to see more. Even if there is a shorter wait between seasons this time, season 3 only lasted for a grand total of just 12 days.

On tonight’s episode “His Last Vow,” the main event for many is going to be the arrival of Charles Augustus Magnussen. This is the new villain, and one of the smartest, most nefarious people that Holmes and Watson have ever faced.

So what does the man behind these spectacles have to say about the part? Speaking to the BBC, Lars Mikkelsen makes some effort right away to differentiate Charles from Moriarty, one of the other notorious characters in the world of “Sherlock”:

“He’s so supreme in his power that I read it as quite a different character to Moriarty. Whereas Moriarty is playful as a villain, this character is more supreme. He doesn’t even need to raise his voice to dominate people. He doesn’t enjoy being a villain; I don’t even think he reckons himself as a villain, he just lives off preying on other people.”

As for some of his co-stars, Mikkelsen had some extremely nice things to say about both Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch, who have guided him through all of the paces and shown him the ropes:

“I was a bit starstruck with them but they’re such nice people, and they just opened their hearts and their minds, and let me in. So it was quite easy working with them.” 

Photo: BBC One