Back in 2010, Dr. Watson was more famous than Sherlock Holmes. That is, when Sherlock debuted on the BBC 14 years ago, Martin Freeman — who played Watson — was probably more well-known thanks to his roles in The Office and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, than the leading man in the title role. But now, almost a decade and a half later, Benedict Cumberbatch’s fame is massive, and his take on the iconic detective, Sherlock Holmes, is legendary, and easily in the same class as famous Baker Street legends like Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett.
So, will there ever be a Sherlock Season 5? More spinoffs like the one-off Victorian episode “The Abominable Bride” from 2015? Well, according to Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss, the best bet for more Cumberbatch Holmes is a feature film. But will it really happen? Here’s what we know about a possible Sherlock movie.
Talk of a Sherlock movie
Mark Gatiss at the Olivier Awards.
On April 15, Deadline reported that while attending the Olivier Awards, Gatiss mentioned that he was still enthusiastic to re-team with Steven Moffat and the rest of the Sherlock gang for a feature film based on the acclaimed and beloved TV series. “We’d like to make a film but trying to get everyone together is very difficult.”
This is not the first time Gatiss has expressed enthusiasm for more Sherlock. As reported by Sherlock Holmes Magazine in their Autumn 2023 issue, Gatiss made comments to both The Guardian and Exceptional.com in 2023, saying to the latter: “I’d love to make a Sherlock film for the big screen.” In both of those interviews, Gatiss made it clear that the biggest challenge would be aligning the schedules of Cumberbatch, Freeman, Moffat, and himself. But, in all of these interviews, he remains hopeful that it could happen, noting, “It would be nice to get the elements aligned and see what happens.”
A less than satisfying ending
Cumberbatch brought Sherlock Holmes into the 21st century like no other actor before or since.
When Sherlock premiered in in 2010, it became an overnight sensation, turning Cumberbatch into a household name and earning numerous award nominations, including Emmys, BAFTAs, and a Golden Globe. But as Cumberbatch and Freeman’s stars rose, the show started to lose its standing as a pop culture phenomenon. By the time the fourth and final season came out in 2017, Sherlock had become a bit of an embarrassment, with critics disparaging it as a “an annoying parody of itself.”
But despite the proliferation of on-screen Sherlocks in the years since Sherlock went off the air — from Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary, to Henry Cavill in the Enola Holmes movies, to Henry Lloyd-Hughes in The Irregulars — the best 21st-century Sherlock Holmes is still Benedict Cumberbatch. And despite a wonky fourth season, Moffat and Gatiss clearly were a dream team when it came to translating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal detective to the small screen. What could they do with Sherlock on the big screen? While the chances of it happening are improbable, for the true believers, a Sherlock movie starring Freeman and Cumberbatch, could do the impossible and become the best Sherlock Holmes movie that we’ll all probably never see.
