‘Sherlock’ Season 5 Air Date, Rumors, Actors: Here Are the Reasons Why the Show Isn’t Returning in the Near Future

As time goes by, the possibility of “Sherlock” Season 5 happening is becoming slimmer. So slim, in fact, that the showrunners and stars of the crime-solving drama aren’t too keen to get back to film it, OtakuArt reported.

So what exactly is the reason for this refusal to produce “Sherlock” Season 5 given that there are literally millions of fans waiting for its release? Well, for one thing, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes) and Martin Freeman (Dr. John H. Watson) are too busy to involve themselves in any more projects.

The two are currently tied to their MCU contracts, with Cumberbatch being the more heavily involved between the two. “Sherlock” Season 5 will not be happening anytime soon as Freeman has two more films in the Marvel universe, while Cumberbatch has three more to shoot.

Another reason is that Mark Gatiss, who plays Sherlock’s brother and is also the co-writer of the show, said that he isn’t interested in writing a “Sherlock” Season 5 as he’s contented with how the show ended. It’s no secret that a lot of TV series’ quality declined simply because it was on air for such a long time.

One example of this is “The Simpsons,” which has been running since 1989. While it was once a brilliant program with underlying complex messages hidden beneath its comedic theme, it’s now but a shadow of its former self. Perhaps showrunners feel that pushing out a “Sherlock” Season 5 will cause the same fate as the beloved show.

There’s also the fact that fans themselves are some of the major reasons why “Sherlock” Season 5 is unlikely to happen. Freeman said that shooting the crime-solving drama isn’t as fun as it used to be since fans’ expectations are placing a lot of pressure on the showrunners and actors alike. He further said that the creative freedom of the writers is somewhat constrained because fans are demanding what path the show should take.

But even then, the show itself is partly the reason for this high expectation since the first season came out with such a stunning and riveting storyline that it immediately accumulated millions of followers worldwide. One could say that the show is a victim of its own success. So any rumor circulating around that “Sherlock” Season 5 is happening is likely just that, a rumor.

Of course, there’s still a chance that the show will return, although the possibilities of it happening are bleak. Fans will just have to wait for Freeman and Cumberbatch’s schedules to settle down before expecting “Sherlock” Season 5. And even then, both actors may have found new projects to involve themselves in.