WARNING: SPOILERS FOR “THE FINAL PROBLEM” TO FOLLOW.

Every Sherlock fan was crying buckets and buckets by the time of the last shot of “The Final Problem” – Sherlock and John running off into new, untold cases (past a building that eagle-eyed fans will recognize is called Rathbone Place, as a nod to the Basil Rathbone movies). As we all know, this could be the last ever episode of the show… but the series’ co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss see it more as a beginning.

Here’s what Gatiss had to say about the ending at the BFI screening for the episode:

“The reason we [ended with] Rathbone Place is that, actually, if we do come back – and we would love to come back – we could absolutely very easily start with a knock at the door and Sherlock saying to John ‘Do you want to come out and play?’. They have become the two heroes that we always knew them to be.”

Moffat added:

“I suppose it’s that Sherlock now finally understands that’s he’s stronger and smarter than Mycroft in a way. But not because he is actually smarter – he’s less smart – but because his emotions, his connections to other human beings, the wisdom he has gained from his connections he has made in the world, make him stronger.

“He sees that, partly because the extreme of [his sister] Eurus who has no connection to anything, is just pure brain, not understanding anything about what it is to be human. [This] makes him realise everything he has worked towards, everything he has tried to get away from himself and deny about himself, is what makes him the strongest.

“He isn’t as smart as Eurus, he isn’t as smart as Mycroft but he is always going to win against them because he is better and stronger. That is him becoming the Sherlock Holmes of Basil Rathbone and [fellow Holmes actor] Jeremy Brett, the one we’re used to, the wise old man… who is still terrifying and still cold but has a heart that you never doubt.”

On the subject of a fifth series, Moffat said:

“If this was the last time – we’re not planning it, but it might be, it’s possible – we could end it there. We couldn’t have ended it on any of the previous series because they always ended up with whopping great cliffhangers.”

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Radio Times