Serious About 'Sherlock' - New Trailer Hits The Net Ahead Of Season 3 Bow

The BBC’s decision to reboot classic adventure franchises like Dr. Who and Sherlock has been nothing short of a phenomenon. With millions tuning in to see the Doctor’s 50th anniversary, and even more expected for the Christmas special, Sherlock is set to make a comeback with season 3 on New Year’s Day – and it’s got the same dedicated fan base as any of the BBC’s strong drama contingent.

The crux of season three, as evidenced in the new fast-twitch, exhilarating trailer, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch’s now-iconic vocal chords, is the faking of the mercurial detective’s death. "I don't care how you faked it. I wanna know why," asks Watson; Sherlock’s faithful yet oft-inquisitive partner in fighting crime, played by Martin Freeman.

Just how Sherlock fooled the world into thinking he plunged into the familiar fate of mortality is still a mystery, adding another level of intrigue heading into the third season. Not only will Conan-Doyle’s creation be charged with exposing a new criminal – or gang of murderers – to a wider spectrum, contriving in their death or arrest, but an eager audience will be expecting an explanation from the show’s protagonist, too.

Watch the trailer for Sherlock season 3 here:

"Obviously Sherlock, does have to have some sort of enemy, a nemesis," said Freeman, quoted by The Mirror. "And as we’ve seen, unless Moriarty did something incredibly Derren Brown-like when he shot himself in the head, we assume... there is no more Moriarty. But there will be a nemesis of some sort and the hints that we get about that in this first episode are very intriguing."

Sherlock showrunner and BBC drama legend, Steven Moffat also opened up the detective’s new target. “We’ve drawn from that story [of Charles Augustus Milverton]," he said.

"But, as ever with our show, what we drew and how we do it and how we find equivalences, [you’ll have to wait and see]. Sometimes, as you know, we flip things and make them the other way round. We do all those things. I’m not giving away what we’ve done with him but I think we’ve done something good. You’ll know the angle we’ve taken on it within seconds of it beginning…”

Next page: Cumberbatch on season three, and what 2014 has in store

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Cumberbatch also teased about the third outing, saying in no uncertain terms, that the three-part series is comprised of three films. “There’s an awful lot to enjoy in the three films we’ve made of it and trust me, they’re films – they are really richly detailed and you don’t go away feeling unsatisfied,” he said, according to The Independent.

The show’s star, who - alongside Freeman – has taken his career to Hollywood since starring in the British crime drama, has recently announced that he’ll follow in the footsteps of Michael Sheen, John Gielgud, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Jude Law and John Simm by playing Hamlet next year. “I know for certain I’m doing Hamlet sometime in autumn on the London stage," he said.

And it’s been a long-time goal for the Star Trek actor, who revealed his desire to play the role last year in an interview with The Telegraph. “I hope to return to theatre soon, hopefully as Hamlet, as it’s a role I’ve been interested in for a long time,” he said. “I don’t know if there is such a thing as a right age to play the part, but 36 or 37 seems appropriate to me, so I need to do it before long.”