If you thought we’d get some answers as to why good ol’ Sherlock Holmes has head home to the Victorian era in the forthcoming Christmas Special slated for the end of 2015, think again. The series’ co-showrunner Steven Moffat has burst everyone’s curiosity bubble by explaining that, well, he won’t be explaining why the cast of Sherlock has traveled back in time.
Which, if you go by Moffat’s defense, is—ugh, I suppose—totally reasonable. “We never bothered explaining what they were doing in modern London,” he stated during the show’s Television Critic Association press tour stop on Saturday. “So why bother explaining what they’re doing in Victorian London, when that’s where they’re supposed to be?”
As for how the move to the Victorian era will affect its main men, Moffat explained that “Sherlock is a little more polished,” adding, “he operates like a Victorian gentleman instead of a posh, rude man. He’s a lot less brattish.” Whereas our boy Watson’s somehow more “uptight,” which—hoo boy!
And while we see where he’s coming from with that logic, we’re not exactly super-enthusiastic about the lack of answers, considering this Sherlock universe has been established in the modern day, and the concept of time-travel as a viable storytelling option has yet to be made a thing. But, hey: we’ll give him the benefit of a doubt because that’s what we should all do when it comes to this sort of thing (cough).
Elsewhere in the panel, we were treated to details regarding season four, which is slated to begin production—in modern times—next spring. Like previous iterations, it, too, will contain three episodes and will be sure to cause a flurry of obsessive speculation once production actually begins.
How would you explain why the Christmas Special’s set in the Victorian era? Leave your silliest, wackiest, weirdest, best theories in the comments.
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Alicia Lutes is the Associate Editor of The Nerdist. You can find her on Twitter @alicialutes.
