‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Cast Benedict Cumberbatch Too Busy To Film Series? Martin Freeman Says Christmas Special Possible

"Sherlock" season 4 cast Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have too much in their hands to film the series, but all is not lost for fans as the man who plays Bilbo Baggins revealed that there's going to be a Christmas special.

The bad news, however, is that the special will not air until next year, UK's Telegraphreported.

 "If that's going to be a special, I'm speaking off-message here, if this was New Labour I'd get fired - I think that might be for next Christmas. A Christmas special. That's what I understand," said Martin Freeman, who plays Dr. Watson, adding that it's unlikely to have a full-blown series because of their busy schedules.

Earlier, showrunner Steven Moffat told London's The Guardian that detective show, despite "Sherlock" season 4 cast Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman's busy schedules, will be around for a very long time.

"Had we done the conventional form of a TV series which is to do runs of six or twelve, it would be over by now without doubt, it would be finished," he said. "Because [the cast] would never again commit that amount of time that regularly to a TV show, they just wouldn't, why would they?"

Apart from "Sherlock" season 4 cast Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman's busy schedules, Steven Moffat also has another hit BBC show "Doctor Who" that is occupying his time.

He said "Sherlock" goes on break for two-and-a-half years before getting back together to make three films, which means "that it can go on for a very long time."

Meanwhile, Martin Freeman also revealed in the same interview that the writers of the show don't really stick strictly to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle source material in terms of the cases tackled by Sherlock Holmes.

 "[But] we generally follow the trajectory of what Conan Doyle did. So he [Watson] gets married, and then Mary dies - so at some point presumably she'll die," Martin Freeman added.