‘Sherlock’ season 4 co-creator addresses ‘Johnlock’ pairing

We have to give Mark Gatiss some credit (for more then his brilliant portrayal of one of our favorite characters in literature) — there are many showrunners out there who steer clear altogether of topics deemed to be a little bit more sensitive, but in his case, he chose to address one of them head on in a Tumblr Q&A session with fans this week promoting the upcoming “Sherlock” season 4: Why aren’t Holmes and Watson in a romantic relationship?

If you look around the internet — especially Tumblr — then you’ll see that the Johnlock relationship (as it’s called by many) is one of the more popular ‘ships out there of its nature; as a matter of fact, it’s far from the only ‘ship of its kind. Look at Swan Queen for “Once Upon a Time” or Destiel for “Supernatural.” The something fun with all of these pairings, especially given that viewers choose to see whatever they want to see in a relationship, whether it be a friendship or something romantic. All of them are ultimately a credit to the writers and actors for allowing these sort of avenues for imagination.

In speaking about Johnlock through the context of this show, Gatiss explained why it is not canon to the BBC series itself:

“Of course we’re not against it. But as we have explained many times, that’s not the story that we want to tell. Obviously as a gay man myself, I have no problem with the notion that a Sherlock Holmes and a Doctor Watson could be in a relationship together, but ours aren’t,. It’s as simple as that. Sherlock is clearly capable of feeling emotion and of falling for someone, but that someone is not John Watson, despite his love and great affection for him.”

Obviously we know the question will likely be addressed again in the future, and we do think that there will probably be a more mainstream version of this story in the future where Johnlock exists in a more canonical way. It’s just not going to be part of this version, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from continuing to envision the pair in such a way if they see fit.

The new season of “Sherlock” begins on the BBC / PBS New Year’s Day. Be sure to head over here to read some further news about it. Also leave us a comment below and tell us if you want to see this pairing or not. (Photo: BBC One.)