Sherlock Could Run For 20 Years, Says Steven Moffat: Will Older Benedict Cumberbatch And Martin Freeman Still Attract Fans?

While "Sherlock" season 3 is slow in the making, executive producer Steven Moffat seems to believe that it can run for 20 years, if Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are willing.

"We love the idea of the audience growing up with the show and the characters growing too," says Steven Moffat regarding "Sherlock."

"There is something lovely in the idea of Martin and Benedict aged 55 sitting at a fireplace, being the age we associate with Holmes and Watson."

Given that "Sherlock" has taken over a year to complete season 3, and even now it is unfinished, this seems to be a seriously daunting statement. But Steven Moffat believes that the show's filming model allows for Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman to come and go according to their career calls.

"By the accident of how we make the episodes there is a huge gap in between filming when Benedict and Martin can go off and make big movies and then come back to the show we all love doing. If we keep that model going, it is ideal," continues Moffat according to Express.

"There is a traditional model of making television where you make an awful lot of episodes over five, six or seven years until you get utterly sick of it and never make the show again but why not make episodes over an awful lot of years so no one gets suffocated by it?"

In this, the concern for "Sherlock" may not be suffocation, but impatience.

Currently, "Sherlock" is filming episode 3 with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and hopefully the season will premiere soon after.