'Sherlock' season 4 news: Fans to start 2016 right with Victorian era-set Christmas special

A screengrab from the first look trailer of the "Sherlock" Christmas special BBC/YouTube

"Sherlock" season 4 feels like it is still far off and while fans await, the question of whether or not it will be the season to wrap up the show comes to mind. Speaking to Variety, co-creator and showrunner Steven Moffat weighed in on the speculation that season 4 could be the final run of the hit series.

"Once Benedict Cumberbatch gives up Sherlock , what are we going to do? We are going to stop, that's what we are going to do," Moffat said. Previous reports hinted that the actor's hectic schedule pushed back the production for the new season.

In the past months, Cumberbatch has spent a lot of time in Broadway. His Marvel film "Doctor Strange," where he stars as the eponymous character, has already started production as well. The actor indeed is a busy man but it looks like he won't be too busy for "Sherlock" season 4.

Meanwhile, as for Martin Freeman aka Sherlock's right hand man Dr. Watson, iDigital Times reports that so long as the show sticks to its nature and continues to develop as it brings along new challenges for him, the actor will be up for as many seasons as possible.

"Sherlock" season 4 won't air until late 2016 but fans can now look forward to the show's special to be screened in the U.K. and the U.S. on Jan. 1. The title of the episode is "The Abominable Wife" and it is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's gothic-horror classic "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual."

In the "Sherlock" Christmas special set in a Victorian era, which Moffat believes is a great setting for a tale of terror and murder, the showrunner teased during the Television Critics Association's press tour event (via Entertainment Weekly) that the greatest detective of all time will be "a little more polished... and a lot less brattish" and Dr. Watson "more uptight."

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