Sherlock creator Steven Moffat has said its lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are the reason why the hit show cannot be revived. The writer and showrunner created the crime mystery series in 2010, based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . Cumberbatch starred as the eponymous super-detective, while Freeman portrayed Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes’s war veteran partner in mystery-solving.
Although the series only ran for 13 episodes across four seasons, it received critical acclaim and garnered several award nominations and wins, including acting Emmys for both Cumberbatch and Freeman, and a writing Emmy for Moffat. Speaking to Metro about the show’s potential return, Moffat said: “As I’ve said before, I’ll do it tomorrow. I mean, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 60 novels.
“It’s not a format that will wear out. Sherlock Holmes will never wear out. I’d love to do it again.
I would absolutely love to again.” Moffat went on to explain that the “problem” impeding Sherlock ’s revival lay not with him, but with the show’s stars. “I’m easy to get, but you need to get the two big stars,” Moffat said, alluding to Cumberbatch and Freeman.
“That’s the problem.” Although Moffat did not expand on why he believed the actors would be difficult to recruit for a reboot, Cumberbatch and Freeman have clashed in the past with regards to Sherlock . In 2018, Freeman has said that shooting the series was “not fun anymore” due to .
