The news about “Sherlock” Season 5 has been rather silent this year and most of the noise being generated online are coming from rumors and out-of-context quotes. Co-creator Mark Gatiss said that if the crime-solving drama does come back, it would do so four years from now.

Fans of the series know all too well that the show has a reputation for taking long hiatus and that the gap between seasons normally takes years before another one is released. And if Gatiss’ previous statements are anything to go by, then “Sherlock” Season 5 could very well return on 2022. At the very least.

But even though this is a long way off, fans are more than happy to wait as the presence of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) on television have been sorely missed. There are a host of reasons why production of “Sherlock” Season 5 is taking a long time to get going but the most prominent of them is Cumberbatch and Freeman’s schedules. Gatiss said that the fourth installment was notoriously difficult to make because of this factor.

"It was very, very, very difficult to schedule the fourth series in terms of Benedict's and Martin's availability, and everyone's availability, so it's not easy. It's not a lack of will, it's just about practicality," Gatiss said. Cumberbatch and Freeman are currently tied with their MCU contracts at the moment, not to mention the other projects that the two celebrities might take in the future. If “Sherlock” Season 5 does happen, however, then show writers Gatiss and Steven Moffat have a lot of avenues to explore.

This is doubly true since Gatiss previously said he wanted to make an episode adaptation of the “The Red-Headed League,” one of the 56 short stories involving the titular detective. The writer said that the story was abandoned because it didn’t fit the fourth installment’s pacing. Another story that can potentially make its way to “Sherlock” Season 5 is titled “The Engineer’s Thumb.”

But all of these ideas are collecting dust at the moment as the fifth installment isn’t happening anytime soon. Hopefully, everyone involved in the production of “Sherlock” Season 5 will get together someday and push for the return of this wonderful series.