'Sherlock' Season 4 Air Date, Premiere & Trailer: Creator Says New Season Will Be 'Life-Changing'; Victorian Special Introduces a New Sherlock Holmes

After two years of hiatus, Sherlockians will be glad to know that news about the highly anticipated "Shelock" Season 4 have been surfacing online. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, the show's co-creator Mark Gatiss reveals that he has just finished writing the pilot episode for the new season.

“I just finished [writing] episode 1,” said Gatiss who also pens hit series "Doctor Who."

Sherlock, who stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes) and Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson), will reportedly start filming late next year. Gatiss also teased "Sherlock" fans that the new season of the hit BBC series will be "life-changing."

"Well, it’s some more adventures. Ha ha! All I can say is, this is a major, life-changing series for the regulars," Gatiss reveals.

It can be remembered that "Sherlock" Season 3 ended with what looked like the return of Moriarty, Sherlock's archenemy played by Andrew Scott. According to Gatiss, "The repercussions of Moriarty’s apparent return are far-reaching. It’s very big stuff.”

Talking to news.com.au, "Sherlock" co-creator Steve Moffat explained the wide time gap between the show's seasons. Moffat said that the long wait was due to Cumberbatch and Freeman's popularity, which skyrocketed after the series' was released.

"This wasn’t a strategy, it accidentally happened -- Benedict and Martin became big stars. There’s no filler in Sherlock. We get to make it so rarely so we’re always fighting fit and hungry to do it again," said Moffat while Gatiss added that "Sherlock" is "worth waiting for and it makes it a special event.”

Meanwhile, for those who could not wait to see more of Cumberbatch and the rest of the gang in Baker Street, "Sherlock" The Abominable Bride" will be released on New Year, Jan. 1, as a one-off Christmas episode. The special will stray off the modern version of "Sherlock" and will be set in Victorian times.

According to Gatiss, fans will see a different Sherlock Holmes in the Victorian special -- from the way he dresses and talks, his hair and overall appearance.

"Benedict doesn’t speak that differently to Victorian Sherlock Holmes anyway. It was a bit more formal for everybody else and there are certain tics from the original books, which was nice to put in. But really, we were very careful to make sure it wasn’t suddenly a museum piece," said Gatiss.

However, even though there's a difference between modern-day Sherlock, the creator assures that "The Abominable Bride" will be "just as fast, funny, silly and exciting as the regular show."