The time is nigh for some more SHERLOCK, and that didn’t really seem like a reality, at least for me, until this panel. Sure, it had been announced, and was aiming for PBS in 2014, but after such a long wait (for some; I caught up last month suckers), it was hard to believe, especially with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman being more and more massive in the world of film.
Their star status was a running theme or joke throughout the panel, with references to the insane fact that they actually both auditioned for the roles, something that seems silly now.
The pair weren’t in attendance, unfortunately, due to their busy schedules, but they did record a video message to the folks, apologizing and thanking them for support. Martin’s was touching, whereas Benedict went for comedy, by using a puppet to illuminate the secrets behind the whopper of a cliffhanger from series 2 (SPOILERS: his death). The video of course was “tampered with,” muted and fast forwarded, all apart of a contrived, yet delightful joke.
Steven Moffat (DOCTOR WHO, nerd god), Mark Gatiss (Mycroft himself) and Sue Vertue were there though, and shed light on what to expect with Season 3 and beyond. Here are the highlights:
The second episode of the new season is entitled “The Wedding,” and refers to Watson’s wedding with Mary, a character we haven’t even met yet. We were also given an exclusive tease of this episode, involving a typically awkward and hilarious discussion about best man duties between the two lead characters. Rest assured, the wit and charm of SHERLOCK is very much alive.
You can expect a lot of Mycroft in series 3.
The unusual schedule for the show might be for our benefit, since it’s the only way Benedict and Martin could commit to the series. As Moffat states, we may be growing old along with these characters, and if possible, it’s clear they’d love to have the two thespians age into the roles as well. It’s exceedingly clear that Moffat and company have no intention to leave things be after series 3, if everything breaks right.
Moffat teased the end of series 3 thusly: “You’ll wonder how we could end it like that…and then 5 minutes later, you’ll wonder how we could end it like that…” and so on, until another whopper of an ender. That said, they don’t think they’re going to tackle the same kind of time jump as the previous two seasons.
Moffat promised answers to the cliffhanger in the first episode, and relatively quickly, because they didn’t want to focus on the past, because there was so much to cram into these three episodes. But obviously it’ll be hard for Watson and Sherlock to repair the relationship (but not that hard due to the wedding thang).
On the subject of a possible feature film, they didn’t discount the possibility, but also admitted that they essentially make mini movies each series, and TV people work that much faster, and may be the only way to ensure the stars’ involvement.
All in all, it was one of the better panels on day one, and succeeded in boosting the hype machine.
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