What To Know
- Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s recent public reunion at Wimbledon has sparked fan speculation about a possible fifth season of Sherlock.
- Despite fan excitement, creators and stars have repeatedly indicated that a new season is unlikely.
Sherlock fans are buzzing after the BBC hit’s stars reunited nearly a decade after its last episode aired. But could this mean good news for the show returning?
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman were in attendance and sitting together, with Cumberbatch’s wife Sophie Hunter between them, at Wimbledon on Friday, July 10. The two publicly disagreed about the show’s future in 2018, a year after it ended, with Freeman telling The Telegraph that due to fan expectations, the experience became stressful and “it’s not fun anymore,” and Cumberbatch following that up to the same outlet with, “It’s pretty pathetic if that’s all it takes to let you not want to take a grip of your reality. What, because of expectations? I don’t know. I don’t necessarily agree with that.”
So, it’s no surprise that with the two being pictured together that fans are wondering if this could mean more Sherlock, though posts don’t seem to think it will happen. “sherlock season 5 hope..?” one fan posted on X. Another wrote, “Season 5 of Sherlock???? I believe it (it’s not true I’m just going crazy).”
Sherlock, created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, ran from 2010 to 2017 for four seasons and one special. The nearly 10-year gap that there would be between seasons isn’t unheard of. However, based on what those behind the series have said, a fifth season seems extremely unlikely.
In the immediate years after, scheduling was often pointed to as to why it didn’t seem like there would be a Season 5.
in June 2025, Gatiss said that there wasn’t a Season 5 “because Benedict and Martin didn’t want to do anymore” at the Italian Global Series Festival (via RadioTimes).
Nothing’s been said to suggest that has changed — Freeman said in January 2026 that there’s no update” — or that schedules would be able to line up if they were both interested. (Plus, it’s hard to imagine Sherlock without Mrs. Hudson, played by Una Stubbs, who died in 2021.)
But Moffat remains open to the possibility of revisiting the world of Sherlock. In the episode of the Half the Picture podcast posted on July 3, he said, “I’d quite like to do it again. … If I can persuade everybody else, of course I’d revisit. What can you ever say that you’ve run out of Sherlock Holmes stories? There are 60 originals and we’ve done 13 or 14. … There’s loads more you could do with Sherlock. I’d quite like to revisit it simply because they would now, our two leads, be the normal age for Shlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. We did younger ones. They’re normally presented as about 50, which is not completely accurate to the books … I’d quite like to see them as their more middle-aged, settled versions.”
Do you want to see more Sherlock? If so, what would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section below.