Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have found some time after all to match wits with Moriarty again in another season of the international hit Sherlock. Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott, took over the BBC One Twitter page overnight to make the announcement.

The network sent a series of tweets, renaming its page “Sherlock - #221back” and announcing that the show will be back for a fourth season. First, there will be a Christmas Special, as Freeman has hinted at a few times. Then, audiences will get another three-episode season, packed with the 90-minute adventures of modern Sherlock Holmes in London that they expect.

Unfortunately, we have to wait well over a year until the special. Filming won’t start until January 2015 and the season will be filmed later. Of course, the network teased many more surprises that are on the way. “We're ready to unleash the most shocking and surprising series of #Sherlock yet. The only thing is to expect is the unexpected,” one message read.

image via Twitter from The BBC

The news that a special is on the way isn’t unexpected, but the fact that a full season is in the works is. Freeman, who plays Watson, has said in the past that the most he and Cumberbatch could find time to do is a single special episode as a one-off. Obviously, the two actors found some time to make three episodes as well.

Sherlock made both actors stars, with Cumberbatch appearing in Star Trek Into Darkness and 12 Years A Slave last year, while Freeman stars as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy. Cumberbatch will be seen as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game later this year.

image courtesy of ACE/INFphoto.com