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Will Tom Hiddleston Join ‘Sherlock’ As “Sherringford,” the Third Holmes Brother? [Spoilers]

By Pang Chieh Ho
Published on: 14:33 PST, Jan 3, 2017

Will Tom Hiddleston appear in Sherlock soon as the third Holmes brother? The teaser trailer for Season 4 and the airing of the first episode “The Six Thatchers” continue to fuel the hope that Hiddleston might appear in Sherlock despite the fact that Hiddleston denied the rumors in an interview with the Roger Ebert website.

“It’s absolute nonsense. Pure speculation. Let me be the first to tell you that the creator of Sherlock, Mark Gatiss, is a friend of mine. We did Coriolanus on stage and he became a great pal. Mark has never mentioned it. If there were any truth to it, I would know it by now.”

However, given that Sherlock is a show that’s known for its elaborate twists and turns and the fact that the Hiddleston interview was given months before more clues of the actor’s possible involvement began to surface, it wouldn’t be surprising if Hiddleston were to suddenly appear on the show in Season 4. Many netizens certainly believe in the possibility in Tom starring in the show, according to Romper, and they are suspecting that Hiddleston will play the part of the mysterious third Holmes brother.

One of the many mysteries of Sherlock that remains unanswered is whether or not there is a third Holmes brother. In “His Last Vow,” the Season 3 finale, Mycroft alludes to the possible existence of another brother.

“I’m not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one.”

Perhaps tellingly, the scene that contains this quote is included in the pre-credits montage shown at the beginning of the first episode of Season 4, “The Six Thatchers,” which for some viewers might serve as an indication of the scene’s importance within the overall story.

However, the Sherlock scene that truly got viewers excited in the season premiere was the scene where Mycroft dials a number and asks to be put through to “Sherringford” after he sees a Post-it on his refrigerator that says “13th” in great block letters. According to sherlockian-sherlock, Sherringford was the original name that author Conan Doyle wanted for his detective before he settled on Sherlock. And as Radio Times has pointed out, Sherringford has had a long history of being associated as the fictional elder brother of Mycroft and Sherlock in many non-Doyle works.

At the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, “Sherringford” was revealed by the Sherlock cast to be one of the names that hinted at the storylines of Season 4.

What was equally stirring for the fans of the detective series was a tweet by Sherlock creator and Mycroft actor Mark Gatiss during the same Comic-Con.

The tweet includes a picture of Gatiss with Tom Hiddleston and Sherlock star Amanda Abbington. What really began to fuel rumors that Hiddleston might be playing the third Holmes brother was the word “Blud,” which is slang for “brother.”

Although Tom Hiddleston is still not listed as a cast member on the IMDb page of the Season 4 of Sherlock, eagle-eyed fans have sought further confirmation of Hiddleston’s possible involvement in the teaser trailer of the season.

In the teaser trailer, there is a book with a red cover floating in the water in the space between Sherlock and Watson. Independent has reported that the book appears to be a leather copy of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Incidentally, Tom Hiddleston played the character Henry V in BBC Two’s The Hollow Crown, a series of TV adaptations of Shakespeare’s history plays.

Tweets like Mark Gatiss’ and Twitter in general has become an incubator for show rumors and speculation, with some being more credible than others. A few months ago, friendly Twitter exchanges between Gatiss and Outlander star Sam Heughan that started with the latter wishing Gatiss a happy birthday sparked rumors that Heughan might be starring in Sherlock, according to International Business Times.

However, there are times when fans can feel validated in their ability to suss out the truth through hints offered by an actor’s tweets. A tweet by Amanda Abbington last year that mentioned the words “Golden Wrap” while she was filming Sherlock had some fans speculating about the character’s imminent demise in the new season. And it turns out that (SPOILERS) those fans were dead on. Abbington’s character ended up dying in “The Six Thatchers,” the first episode of Season 4.

For fans, Tom Hiddleston’s notable friendships with both Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Gatiss also offer hope that the actor will appear on Sherlock, a show that has not shied away from casting actors close to the main actors and creators of the show. Louis Moffat, the son of show runner Steven Moffat and producer Sue Vertue, played a younger version of Sherlock in “His Last Vow.” And Amanda Abbington and Olivia Poulet were both girlfriends of the two main leads (Freeman and Cumberbatch, respectively) when they were cast on Sherlock. So for those who are eager to see Tom Hiddleston reunite with Benedict Cumberbatch on screen, there’s still two episodes of Sherlock to go and still plenty of room for hope.

[Featured Image by Monica Schipper/Getty Images]

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