‘Sherlock’ and Watson Take a Dip in New Season 4 Teaser Poster

The scope of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock stories often provides fodder for some of the odder sight gags of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s adaptation, and Season 4 may be no different. It seems as if 221b Baker Street has sprung a leak in a cryptic new teaser and poster for the 2017 return.

The BBC released a brief new teaser for the show’s fourth season, where what appears to be a serene moment between Sherlock and his partner deserves a second look. For whatever reason, neither member of the crime-solving team seems perturbed that their upstairs apartment is knee-high in water.

The new season will premiere on January 1 with “The Six Thatchers” (a reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tale “The Six Napoleons”), with the latter two episodes arriving in weekly installments. Likely our last Sherlock for the foreseeable future, with some leading titles, and the first of three new feature-length episodes to be helmed by Doctor Who and The Flash director Rachel Talalay, so reads the first synopsis:

Sherlock will return to screens with three brand-new episodes promising laughter, tears, shocks, surprises and extraordinary cases…

Series four begins with the nation’s favourite detective, the mercurial Sherlock Holmes, back once more on British soil, as Doctor Watson and his wife, Mary, prepare for their biggest ever challenge - becoming parents for the first time.

When last we heard, showrunner Steven Moffat had plotted through a potential fifth season of the series, to say nothing of additional specials in the vein of The Abominable Bride. Along with the surprise resurrection of Season 3 finale “His Last Vow,” Moffat also specified that Sherlock Season 4 would likely see increased roles for the women of the series, particularly Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs).

In the meantime, stay tuned for the latest Sherlock Season 4 updates as they arrive.