Tom Hiddleston posed with the Sherlock cast – could he be playing the third Holmes brother?
Is he being lined up to play the "other" member of the Holmes family?
He’s been an Asgardian terror and a Night Manager but could Tom Hiddleston play a Holmes? That’s the question fans are asking after the British actor posed alongside Sherlock’s Mark Gatiss and Amanda Abbington at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend.
Hiddleston was in town to talk all things Marvel at the annual pop culture extravaganza when he caught up with Gatiss and Abbington – just after the Sherlock cast shared some tantalising series four teasers.
One of those teasers was a name. Sherrinford.
As RadioTimes.com Sherlock sleuth Huw Fullerton reported just yesterday, Sherrinford was originally considered as a name for Doyle’s detective before he settled on Sherlock. The name was later taken up by Sherlock scholar William Stuart Baring-Gould to be used in a fictional Sherlock Holmes biography.
In the book, “Sherrinford Holmes” became the eldest brother of Sherlock and Mycroft, who was left behind to run the family estate while the other Holmes men went into crime-solving and government work respectively (solving a plot hole from the books of why neither Mycroft or Holmes looked after the family pile).
Now, in the modern series we’ve only met two Holmes brothers, but in the last episode of series three, Mycroft hinted that there might have been another, saying “I'm not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one.”
And since Gatiss opted to use the word “blud” when sharing the snap, some fans have had a rather ingenious thought.
In the words of a fan who’s put it far better than we ever could…
@Markgatiss Y U DO DIS TO MY POOR NERVES, MR GATISS
— shaz ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (@shaziplier) July 25, 2016
Sherlock series 4 airs on BBC1 in 2017
