Benedict Cumberbatch has said he’d “never say never” to reprising his title role on BBC One’s Sherlock, but believes the drama has “had its moment for now”.
The actor made the comments during a recent interview with Esquire, when he initially declined to be “drawn into” a conversation about Sherlock, but later elaborated.
“It wouldn’t be fair on anyone else involved – I’m not going to be drawn into that. No, no, no,” he initially said.
However, he later added: “Oh look, I still say never say never. You know, I really like that character… it’s just, the circumstances need to be right and I think maybe it’s too soon now to see it have another life. I think, wonderful as it is, it’s had its moment for now. But that’s not to say it wouldn’t have another iteration in the future.”
In the same interview, Mark Gatiss (Sherlock’s co-creator, who also starred in the series) revealed how the casting of Cumberbatch in the BBC series was “the perfect match of actor and part”.
“Having taken the plunge on a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, everything about Benedict, his age, his look, his ‘otherness’ marked him out. We drew up a huge list of possible Sherlocks but, in the end, we saw no-one but him,” he said.
Asked about how Cumberbatch landed the part, he continued: “Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue [co-creator and producer respectively] had just watched Atonement when I texted saying ‘What about Benedict Cumberbatch?’ I’d worked with Ben on Starter for 10 and knew him a little bit. But Atonement made a huge impression on us all.”
Read more: Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss reveal possible future cases in new Q&A
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