Sherlock season 5: Mark Gatiss slows revival talks down slightly
Speaking in a recent episode of the UK podcast A Stab in the Dark, the writer/actor (who of course plays our favorite Mycroft) made it clear that there are several hurdles in the way of the show coming back — and even conjured up the name of one of the greatest British sitcoms ever in referencing how sometimes less is more when it comes to keeping a show great:
“It was very, very hard to schedule the last series, because of [stars] Martin [Freeman] and Benedict [Cumberbatch]’s availability. And [then also the availability of Moffat and I].
“There is always that Fawlty Towers principle of ‘let’s just leave it.’ We’ve had the keys to Baker Street for a while, but one of the wonderful things is that they’re always shared. They were shared while we were making it. There’s nothing wrong with saying, ‘That was our version, somebody out there go and do their version.'”
If the show does return, the biggest thing to remember is that we’re not talking about a 2018 premiere. We’re probably not even talking about a 2019 premiere. If you exclude The Abominable Bride for a moment, there were effectively three years in between seasons. It’s possible that once Moffat gets a breather from Doctor Who at some point next year, he and Gatiss will sit down and think over another idea. Or, it’s possible that they sit back, and realize that they’ve ended the show in a way that they’re happy with.
The Luther comparisons
If you’re hopeful for more Sherlock, pointing towards Luther as a prime example of a show that is working out is far from a bad thing. At the time of the most-recent season premiering, it didn’t seem as though either star Idris Elba or creator / writer Neil Cross were all that optimistic that there could be more to the story. However, that did change over time, and we’re recently coming off the news that there could be more.
Here’s the odd sort of irony with determining Sherlock season 5 — everyone needs a little bit of distance from it, and a chance to think about some other projects for a while. Hopefully, that is an opportunity that is going to come at some point, but it’s hard to avoid the subject given that it’s something that so many people want to see happen. If there are long-form interviews that anyone from the show does, these questions will inevitably be asked. Let’s just hope that Moffat, Gatiss, and the rest of the gang can find their distance even in spite of that.
While we all wait…
We suggest that you head over here to take a look at some other recent news pertaining to Sherlock, including episode reviews from the fourth season and much more! (Photo: BBC One.)