For the diehard fans of BBC's Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch is the willowy, mercurial Sherlock Holmes, slamming around London with a popped collar and standing suspiciously close to Martin Freeman's Dr. John Watson. To the rest of the world right now, however, he's one of Hollywood's favorite "It" boys. As such, he's currently making the rounds promoting both himself and the upcoming WikiLeaks movie, The Fifth Estate, in which he stars.
Luckily for those aforementioned Sherlock fan people, though, it appears he can't make it through an interview these days without spilling a little more about Sherlock Season 3 and what it's like to play the legendary detective.
Using perhaps the most British phrasing possible, Cumberbatch has called the first episode of Sherlock's Season 3 "an absolute stonker." We'll need a British-to-English dictionary to fully understand the nuances of that word choice, but from what we can tell, it means he's excited?
Cumberbatch teased in an interview that "there's a reunion that doesn't necessarily go to plan," undoubtedly pointing to that between Holmes and Watson, the former having [spoiler alert for a 200-year-old story] faked his own suicide at the end of last season and ditched the latter. Cumberbatch also teased that there'd be a visit to a church, and "there's a new union as well, in the shape of a marriage, which Sherlock takes part in, so we see that."
This all points with flaming arrows and blinking signs to John Watson's impending nuptials to one Mary Morstan (reportedly to be played by Freeman's real-life partner Amanda Abbington). Sherlock likely comes home, hoping to pick up where he left off with his partner in crime-solving, only to find Watson engaged — and probably a bit miffed that his best friend let him believe he was dead for three years. In additional Sherlock intrigue, Cumberbatch teased to The Hollywood Reporter that The Killing 's Lars Mikkelsen will be playing "an incredible new villain," although the name and exact parameters of said villain have yet to be revealed. Aside from Holmes' heartbreak and a new Big Bad, Cumberbatch also discussed his growth as an actor, stating humbly that it's not his increasing capability that's landed him roles in Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, The Fifth Estate, and August: Osage County; he's "just been asked to do more. And the more you do, the more people trust that you can do." He also reflected on his feelings about saying goodbye to Holmes again, considering the notoriously hefty breaks Sherlock takes between shooting: "I felt very sentimental on the last day of shooting...He's f****ing hard work, always has been, but I love him, and I got sad that I wasn't going to see him again for a while."
Fans are pretty bummed, too; by the time Sherlock airs on BBC in 2014 more than two years will have passed since the show's second season aired.
We kind of understand how John Watson feels.