New ‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Video Emphasizes Difficulty Of Scheduling Benedict Cumberbatch And Martin Freeman

As “Sherlock” Season 4 gets closer, fans are getting new looks at the PBS series. The drama released a new behind-the-scenes video that shows the cast hard at work. While it doesn’t contain any spoilers, it does reveal the scheduling problems facing the show.

In the video, executive producer Mark Gatiss reveals that their very tight schedule forced the cast to read the scripts aloud in the evening. “Then we had the read throughs, all back to front, but it was the only way we could do it. Evening read throughs can be very tricky because, if you do them on a day when everyone has been working, they can be very flat. But everyone had come to it fresh, so it went extremely well.”

Watch the “Sherlock” video below:

It’s not surprising to hear that scheduling was tricky. After all, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, who play Holmes and Watson, have booming careers. Cumberbatch has starred in the Academy Award-winning film “The Imitation Game” and taken a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with “Doctor Strange.” Freeman joined the MCU as Agent Everett K. Ross in “Captain America: Civil War” as well, but he also played Bilbo in “The Hobbit” movies. It’s easy to see why there was nearly three years between seasons (not counting the one-off special “The Abominable Bride”).

Though it’s certainly different from Doctor Strange’s cape, Cumberbatch said he enjoyed getting back into Holmes’ coat while filming “Sherlock” Season 4. “It’s lovely putting the famed coat back on again, as opposed to the starched collar and the morning suit, but at the same time, we were filming in the middle of summer so it was quite hot every time I put on the coat! It’s part of who he is, part of his kit and his armour,” the actor told the BBC.

Of course, it still isn’t clear if it’s his last time donning Sherlock’s costume. Though rumors are flying, no one actually knows if this is the last installment of “Sherlock.” Showrunner Steven Moffat clarified that certain quotes from Cumberbatch about a potential series finale had recently been taken out of context.

“He was quite specific about being keen to carry on,” Moffat told Entertainment Weekly. “He went on to say he’s hard to get us all together. We want to keep the quality up. We haven’t even seen this [season air] yet. We don’t know. We haven’t sat down with the intent to anything yet. But we’re always aware that it could be over. But the fact is Benedict did not say that.”

“Sherlock” Season 4 premieres Sunday, Jan. 1 on PBS.