Benedict Cumberbatch Has One Condition To Return As Sherlock Holmes

While Benedict Cumberbatch is most famous now for playing Doctor Strange in the MCU, his initial claim to fame was playing a modern-day version of Sherlock Holmes on BBC. That TV show, which ran for four seasons of three 90-minute episodes each, was an immediate critical success. By the time the season 3 trailer came out, promising a resolution to that famous season 2 cliffhanger of Sherlock faking his own death, "Sherlock" was one of the most talked-about shows of its day. 

Sadly, the show was all downhill from there. The writing quality declined, and combined with the increasingly large gaps between seasons, it eventually killed viewers' interest. The season 4 finale in 2017 ended in a way that promised more adventures to come, but nobody seemed to want them anymore. Adding on that both its leads were now rising Hollywood stars, and no one complained much when "Sherlock" was put on indefinite hiatus. Would Cumberbatch ever consider returning to the role? The answer is yes, but not without conditions. 

"It would take it to be better than it ever was," Cumberbatch explained in a recent interview, when asked what it would take to bring him back to the show. "You leave them or yourselves wanting more. There's always that itch to scratch, but I think it would have to be the superlative version of what we've already achieved." He also joked that they'd need to pay him "a lot of money," although it seemed clear that it was the quality of the writing he values the most. 

Cumberbatch saying he's hoping for a "superlative version" of what the show's already done can be interpreted as him wanting a bigger, bolder version of the series. However, I'd argue the best version of a potential season 5 is one that goes back to the basics. Instead of trying to outdo Moriarty, the villainous genius that loomed over the first two seasons, the show should simply focus on self-contained mysteries. There's no need for big, long-term arcs like John's love interest turning out to be an assassin or Sherlock's secret sister enacting a decades-long revenge plan.

It's season 4's failure to realize this, I'd argue, that killed the original run of the show. The Moriarty arc was so well-received at first that the show seemed to think the fans wanted things to get even more convoluted, more clever. But as the show went on, it became clear that the best episodes were the self-contained ones. Season 4's "The Lying Detective," for instance, was the best episode of the show since season 2; people just tend to overlook it because it's sandwiched between two controversial, lore-heavy episodes. 

"The Lying Detective" centered around a straightforward mystery, with a fun one-off villain and a character arc for Sherlock that resolved within the episode itself. This was what fans wanted from every episode, even if the writers didn't seem to know it. If showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss truly want to win Cumberbatch back, they should write a season 5 that's fully episodic, relatively angst-free, and not trying too hard to blow the viewers' minds. Take a cue from "Poker Face" and just try to have fun.