Sherlock movie is "the natural thing to do", says Mark Gatiss

Martin Freeman co-starred as Dr John Watson across all four seasons of the show and in a period-set special titled The Abominable Bride, which premiered on New Year's Day 2016 and won the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie.

In a new Q&A with readers of The Guardian, Gatiss was questioned on why he and co-creator Steven Moffat brought Sherlock to television as opposed to making it a big screen project from the beginning.

"People think you can just wave a wand," he responded. "It’s incredibly difficult to get people interested and get films made. I remember talking to Edgar Wright about Ant-Man, into which he put eight years of his life and then didn’t make."

Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Wright quit Marvel's original Ant-Man film in May 2014 over creative differences, after working on the film since April 2006. He was replaced by Peyton Reed, who stayed on for the entire trilogy.

"Eight years is not short of a decade. Add a few of those up, you’re dead and you’ve made four films," continued Gatiss. "But, also, we were genuinely interested in making them for TV because we love TV."

He added: "We would love to make a Sherlock movie. It’s the natural thing to do."

A feature film would certainly be fitting, with Cumberbatch and Freeman now big names in Hollywood, with the former playing Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the latter known for leading Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy.

Of course, this could also prove a hinderance to future episodes, with Moffat noting in 2017 (via Digital Spy) that a possible revival would depend partly on the availability of the stars.

Sherlock is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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