‘Sherlock’ Season 4: Mark Gatiss Says Expect Tragedy, Refuses to Confirm/Deny Mary Watson’s Rumoured Death

Fans should expect tragedy to happen in the fourth season of “Sherlock,” but should not assume John Watson’s wife Mary will die. Series co-creator Mark Gatiss refused to confirm or deny reports that Mary Watson, played by Amanda Abbington, will meet her demise in the upcoming season.

In the original books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Morstan passed away from undisclosed cause sometime during Sherlock Holmes’ fake death and return. In the UK series, however, Mary was only introduced when Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) returned from his “death.” During his absence, Mary and John, played by Abbington’s real-life partner Martin Freeman, met and fell in love.

With Mary’s demise in the novels, fans fear that she would be killed off in the coming season. Freeman himself has hinted that Mary will “presumably” die at some point in the show.

“While we play fast and loose with the original stories, we generally follow the trajectory of what Conan Doyle did. So he [Watson] gets married, and then Mary dies – so at some point presumably she’ll die,” the actor told the Telegraph in June.

Gatiss, co-creator and writer, has warned that the show will take on a tragic turn, but refused to acknowledged speculations that the tragedy would mean Mary’s death.

“You can always expect tragedy as well as adventure, that’s just how it goes,” he told RadioTimes.com. “Just because it’s in the stories doesn’t mean it’ll happen in the series because there’s an awful lot of changes and an awfl lot of places to go and things to do.”

He continued, “It should be clear by now that while, of course, Doyle is our absolute god, we have quite a long way away as well – we’ve introduced Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents [for instance], I don’t think they’ve ever been seen in any adaptation – so there are lots of surprises to come.”

Cumberbatch’s real-life parents, actors Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton, play Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents.

Before the three-episode season will air, “Sherlock” will air a one-off, full-length special episode, which is expected to begin production in January. The rest of the season will shoot sometime later in 2015.

Read: ‘Sherlock Spoiler Update: Revelations of One-Off Special Episode, To Be Aired Before Season 4 Premiere Date

Meanwhile, the apparent return of Sherlock’s archenemy Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) will be “completely” answered in the special episode. In the season 3 cliffhanger finale, Sherlock returned from “the briefest of exiles” when Moriarty’s image appeared on every television screens across Britain, repeating the question, “Did you miss me?”

It’s unknown if Moriarty is truly still alive after he shot himself in the head at the end of season 2, and that’s what viewers are hoping to get answered immediately. Not to worry, though. Gatiss told Radio Times that the mystery will be “completely” solved in the special episode.