Fans who have waited with bated breath to hear when their beloved series Sherlock would return will wait no more, as today it has been revealed that season 3 will premiere on Jan 19th at 10pm on PBS Masterpiece. Unfortunately, the BBC has not revealed the UK premiere date just yet but considering that they have “first window” rights to air the show, you can expect that it will premiere overseas well before January 19th.
Sherlock executive producer Sue Vertue had the following to say about the announcement:
“We are hugely excited about this next series ofSherlock, and have worked closely with our partners, Masterpiece and PBS, to bring these episodes to U.S. audiences in January. We promise our fans that Season 3 is worth waiting for.”
The reason for the (really long) wait between season two and three is due to production being delayed. Why was it delayed, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. It was because the show’s two stars, Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch, became hugely popular after the second season and went on to star in several very high profile films between the two of them (The Hobbit, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Fifth Estate, The World’s End etc.). Due to their extremely busy schedules, the production of season three had to be split into three chunks, which is why it’s taken so long.
“The first holdup was the boys, of course, and getting all of them together — not just Benedict and Martin but also [creators] Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss,” Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton says. “They had to break up the production to accommodate all the movies they wanted to make.”
Of course, the wait has felt even longer due to the due to the fact that season 2 left off with a wicked cliffhanger. The season 3 premiere, The Empty Hearse, promises to answer all our questions and clear everything up. While I’m not sure how they’re going to explain what happened at the end of season 2 (I won’t spoil it here), I am curious to see what they can come up with.
So, there you have it, Sherlock will return to North American televisions on January 19th. Will you be tuning in? Let us know in the comments section below.