‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Spoilers, Updates: Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Preparing for Roles, Teases Possibility for Character’s Backstory for Incoming Season

‘Sherlock’ star Benedict Cumberbatch revealed how he prepares for roles during a recent web interview and also teased of the possibility of having his character’s backstory featured in season 4.

According to Huffington Post, Cumberbatch teased that the incoming season of ‘Sherlock’ will feature his titular character’s mysterious backstory. During a web-chat with the Guardian, he admitted that co-creator Steven Moffat provided only a few details for him to build up his character.

When asked about how he prepares for his diverse roles, Cumberbatch replied, “I do build up a backstory in my head even if it’s just for me.” He continued, “I remember asking Steven Moffatt what his backstory was for Sherlock – “Oh, he’s just brilliant!” was his response. That’s lasted until this series, where you’ll find out a lot more about his backstory.”

Cumberbatch added, “As far as preparation goes, it’s important to understand the who, what, where, why of the character before you meet him… That helps the character employ those tactics for whatever action they’re trying to perform, which can necessitate a limit of choice as well as a discovery of new things to be learned as an actor to portray the character with.”

The 40-year old multi-award winning English actor and film producer portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the popular BBC One television series since 2010. He gained several accolades for his performance including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

 He is also set to play the big screen version of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the highly-anticipated live-action adaptation set to premiere in U.S. theaters on November 4, 2016.

Cumberbatch worked on several television series including ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Silent Witness’ before portraying Stephen Hawking in the television film ‘Hawking’, which premiered in 2004. He proceeded to star in films such as 2008’s ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, 2011’s ‘Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy’, 2013’s ’12 Years A Slave’, and 2013’s ‘Star Trek Into Darkness.’

He went on to garner a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role on the 2014 historical drama thriller ‘The Imitation Game’.

Meanwhile, according to Carter Matt, co-creator Mark Gatiss was unsure if season 4 will be the series’ last. Speaking on the BBC Radio 5 show “In Short”, he made it clear that he had “no idea” if the series has finally reached the end or if Cumberbatch would be returning to reprise his role for possible future seasons. Cumberbatch hinted that season 4 may be the last one in previous interviews.

However, the actor dismissed his previous comments during an interview on BBC Radio Two’s “The Chris Evans Breakfast Show.” He said, “This came from an arts desk or any kind of news outlet going, ‘Oh we really need a story’, so they sort of shipped out this quote which said that I said, ‘This is the last one’, which is not what I said. I said, ‘For the time being’. And you’ll see when you watch [the new, fourth season], that there’s a good reason why I said that… We won’t be doing one immediately after this one airs. That’s all I meant. We never ever say never on that show. We love doing it.”

‘Sherlock’ season 4 is scheduled to premiere on BBC One sometime in 2017. The British-American crime-drama television series, created by Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat, garnered several accolades since it premiered on July 2010. It is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.