Sherlock’s third season is just over the horizon. We’ve known for a while that writers and creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss were putting together three epic episodes featuring a brand new villain, but this week the two prolific men revealed even more about what fans can expect from “The Empty Hearse,” “The Sign of the Three” and “His Last Vow.” Namely, Lars Mikkelsen should be an excellent addition to the Season 3 cast. You have to get through nearly five minutes of random content before Gatiss and Moffat start gushing about the new actor, but if you can manage it, you’ll get a to a part where Mikkelsen is described as both “interesting” and “stunning.” The real icing on the cake, however, are the comments that Sherlock’s new bad guy is “an outstanding villain who will give you proper chills" and who is "the worst man in London."
You can check out the dastardly fellow, below:
We’ve known for a while that Mikkelsen is set to play Charles Augustus Magnussen. The character is a take on the literary villain Charles Augustus Milverton, who appeared in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton. As Gatiss and Moffat note, the name change corresponds with many of the changes that Sherlock has made over the years to place our titular hero into a newer and more modern world. The villain was a blackmailer in the short story, and from what we know about the new episodes, he’ll be horrible this time around. In fact, the creators go so far as to explain Sherlock's feelings for Magnussen as "proper hate."
If you already feel like you've heard enough information about the new bad guy on the block, there are some other interesting tidbits found in the clip, including the fact that Sherlock Holmes is set to step back into the picture just in time for Watson’s nuptials. Anyone familiar with the drama knows that Sherlock has been playing dead for quite some time and has been lying low as a result. I’m sure we’ll have to see him apologize profusely to Watson during the first episode of the season, but by episode 2, it’s good to know their friendship will be getting back on track. Speaking of friendship, the writers also say that Sherlock will have more regular human interactions during Season 3.
Sherlock’s third season is expected to hit the airwaves in the U.K. on New Year’s Day. The show will air on PBS in the U.S. later in January. We’ve already gotten a bunch of clever new stills from the new season, which will see the great mystery-solver return from the dead (sort-of). You can check out a Season 3 trailer, here.
