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Why Benedict Cumberbatch keeps returning for Sherlock
![[Image via BBC]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/eizlo.NhUktqgICx4qRLWA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/50769f8a6006524c4e4ce782efd3b1bd)
Benedict Cumberbatch’s career has gone from strength to strength ever since he was cast as the world’s most famous detective in ‘Sherlock’.
Not only has the actor been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ‘The Imitation Game’, but he’s wowed mainstream audiences with his portrayal in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’, ‘12 Years A Slave’, and most recently as the titular Marvel superhero in ‘Doctor Strange’.
Because of this success, it has become harder and harder for ‘Sherlock’ to be shot, especially since Martin Freeman’s career has almost been just as impressive in recent years, too. But the duo keep on finding the time to return to their roles as Sherlock and Watson, and now Benedict Cumberbatch has opened up about what makes it so alluring.
Ahead of the fourth season of ‘Sherlock’, which consists of three episodes, the last of which will air on January 15, Benedict Cumberbatch sat down to talk with Radio Times, where he admitted that he feels as though he has “evolved” with the story, and that the show continues to surprise both him and “hopefully our audience.”
![[Image via Marvel Studios]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/GX4rVyPqW5kGxcsBqnN2aQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTQ4MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/e2a19b9f356b30516cb5dcea4da34fe7)
“There are payoffs in this series that I know in some instances even the writers didn’t realise were happening until they were starting to write it, which is just remarkable. The level of invention and imagination and darkness and joy just gets better and better,” Benedict Cumberbatch insisted.
The actor also insisted that he loves how Sherlock can mix “very serious stuff” with “bleak” and “very funny” material, too. He then added, “I wouldn’t be coming back to do more if there wasn’t a difference between this series and the first series. I’m very lucky to have a character like this, who I still really want to play.”
Benedict Cumberbatch’s time is going to be stretched even further now that he’s joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Sorcerer Supreme. But as the first episode of ‘Sherlock’ proved tonight, the actor still shines the brightest when he’s at home on the BBC and at 221B Baker Street.
