Sherlock creator Steven Moffat responds to recent revival comments, revealing that he already has an idea for how Benedict Cumberbatch’s detective could return

Ever since series finale ‘The Final Problem’ aired in January 2017, audiences have been calling for hit TV show Sherlock to make a return to the screen. Despite the word ‘final’ being in the episode title, viewers weren’t ready to say goodbye to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson just yet.

Over the past few years, there has been much discussion over whether the series could make a comeback, with producer Sue Vertue most recently telling Deadline that “there is a future for it” should the actors want to reprise their roles.

Now the show’s creator Steven Moffat is adding more fuel to the fire in a new interview with SFX magazine in its latest issue, which features Doctor Who’s Christmas special ‘Joy to the World’ (which Moffat penned) on the cover and hits newsstands on December 3.

Responding to Vertue’s comments, Moffat clarifies that whilst there is no official update, he’d be keen to do more Sherlock: “I’d love to do it again. Look, it’s not a format that wears out. It’s over a hundred years old and going strong, so why aren’t we making more? Sue only said that because she was asked and suddenly it becomes an announcement about a film! There is no new news here. We’re just fending off that question, as ever. “

“We would happily do it again and I hope someday that we do. It seems perverse not to,” he continues. “You make enough shows in your lifetime that no one gives a flying one about, so it’s nice to have one that people are passionate about. It’s almost presumptuous, almost arrogant, not to do it again. But there are no hard plans, none at all.”

(Image credit: BBC)

The question is, then, if Moffat and co do want to bring it back, what are they waiting for? As the writer adds, the stars need to align, but he also teases that he already knows exactly how he would want the detective duo to return: “We actually do have an idea. The idea is basically go back and do it again – but slightly more specific than that…

“It would be nice to see them just a little bit older, because it was always very foregrounded in our version that they were younger, let alone the fact that they were updated. It’d be quite nice to see them at more of a Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke age, a bit more Rathbone and Bruce. I think that would be lovely. Now we can see the more famously middle-aged version.”

And as Moffatt concludes: “There’s an audience waiting for it. It seems madness not to do it.” Now, that’s just elementary isn’t it!

Up next for Moffatt, though, is the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, ‘Joy to the World’, which he wrote and stars Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan. It will surely bring some timey-wimey fun to Christmas Day!

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All episodes of Sherlock are available to stream now via Hulu in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK. Read more from our interview with Moffat in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who’s Christmas special ‘Joy to the World’ on the cover and hits newsstands on Tuesday, December 3. Check out the fittingly festive cover below…

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