“If Benedict went under a bus tomorrow it would be the end of the show,” says Sherlock creator Mark Gatiss.
Mark Gatiss, creator of the hit BBC show Sherlock, has deemed Benedict Cumberbatch “irreplaceable” in the lead titular role. Speaking to The Mirror, Gatiss even goes as far as to claim, “If Benedict went under a bus tomorrow it would be the end of the show. Benedict and Martin are our stars.” Martin, of course, refers to Martin Freeman, the actor who plays Watson and is one half of the dynamic duo of the TV series. Gatiss also adds that while people want more episodes of Sherlock than three in an entire year, that’s all they could do right now since the two lead actors’ success in Hollywood has left them in a bind when it comes to scheduling. “We do three episodes a year and although people want more that’s all we can do. They are both so famous now it’s increasingly difficult to get them,” comments Gatiss.
“Sherlock made Benedict a star and I know he is eternally grateful to the show, he wants to do more,” the show creator mentions, and adds, “Martin is similar too as he is in The Hobbit and he’s doing a new show in Canada with Billy Bob Thornton, a TV version of Fargo.” However, even with the duo’s Hollywood success, Gatiss reiterates that both leads want to continue with the hit show and yes, they will return for the fourth season — though that’s still without a set date yet. “They are both major stars but they both want to carry on. We just have to try and make the days work, that’s all,” he finishes.
Cumberbatch was most recently seen in the Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, while Freeman will star once again as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s concluding chapter to The Hobbit trilogy, There and Back Again, set to hit theaters later this year.
As a big fan of Sherlock, I don’t think I’d even want the series to continue without the two original actors playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. But that might just be me. Would you be OK if the two roles were recast if for some reason Cumberbatch and Freeman couldn’t continue doing it? Or would it be better they stop the series altogether than do that?
Source: The Mirror via DigitalSpy
Published: Mar 9, 2014 03:48 pm