Rebooting Sherlock without Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson isn’t so elementary, according to co-creator Mark Gatiss.
Gatiss not only developed the BBC’s modern-day Arthur Conan Doyle adaptation alongside Steven Moffat but also played Sherlock’s older brother, Mycroft Holmes, on the show. And now he’s not interested in any Sherlock reboot with a new cast.
“No. We had our go, and we struck gold with Benedict and Martin. I mean, there’s no…what would be the point?” Gatiss told Collider in a recent interview. “You’d just be doing it again.”
Besides, Gatiss has other projects to focus on, including his new series Bookish, a detective drama set in 1940s London, coming soon to PBS. Gatiss stars in that TV show as the “unconventional Gabriel Book who, from his antiquarian bookshop, helps the police to solve a variety of mysterious crimes,” according to the logline.
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“To be frank, you know, I’m 60 next year,” Gatiss told Collider. “It’s incredible. And how many more things can one do? I’m committed to doing this, and I’m very interested in doing new stuff, and Bookish is what I want to do. … It’s great to tip your hat to what a wonderful thing [Sherlock] was, but also it’s lovely to move forward.”
Sherlock aired four seasons and one special on BBC One between 2010 and 2017. Afterward, Moffat told fans the fourth-season finale was the end of “Chapter One” of the series.
“Dr. Watson is now Doyle’s brave widower, and Sherlock Holmes has become the wise and humane version of the main run of the stories,” he added. “Whether we ever get to Chapter Two — our boys consciously living the myth and battling wrong-doers — rather depends on our two stars. I’d be slightly surprised if we never made it again.”
Sue Vertue, one of the Sherlock producers, told Deadline in October 2024 that there is “a future” for the show. “One day. Maybe. If everyone wants to do it,” she added. “I’ve still got the set in storage somewhere, which is probably rotten, to be honest with you. It’s just getting everybody aligned, it’s getting the actors to want to do it.”
But Gatiss said last month that a fifth season never transpired because Cumberbatch and Freeman “didn’t want to do [it] anymore,” per RadioTimes.com.