Sherlock Holmes appears to have an appointment with one of his most challenging adversaries in the upcoming season of Sherlock: himself.
The BBC released a new trailer for the fourth season of the hit series that casts Doctor Strange and Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberbatch as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and it seems to show Sherlock Holmes struggling to come to grips with some of his deepest, darkest secrets. Captain America: The First Avenger and The Girl actor Toby Jones appears quite prominently in the trailer as Culverton Smith, a character introduced in Doyle’s 1913 story The Adventure of the Dying Detective.
Sherlock is scheduled to return for its fourth season on January 1, more than a year on hiatus as Cumberbatch and co-star Martin Freeman appeared in various big-screen and television projects. The last episode of Sherlock to air was the 2015 Christmas Special, The Abominable Bride. The third season concluded in February 2014, so it’s been more than two years since that last full season of Sherlock aired.
The fourth season of the series reportedly brings Sherlock back to British soil and kicks off with an episode titled The Six Thatchers — likely a reference to Doyle’s 1904 story The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, in which Sherlock and Dr. John Watson investigate a mystery involving smashed statues of Napoleon Bonaparte. The new season will also unfold as Watson (Freeman) and his wife, Mary (Amanda Abbington), welcome their first child.
Over the course of the show’s three seasons, Sherlock has earned a long list of accolades to go along with its high audience ratings, including 34 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the show, its cast, and the creative team behind it, and won nine Primetime Emmy Awards — including one for The Abominable Bride and for both Cumberbatch and Freeman. Series co-creator Steven Moffat also won a Primetime Emmy Award for writing the 2013 episode His Last Vow.
Along with the series’ usual debut on BBC, Sherlock will air on PBS in the U.S.
