Speaking to French websites including Reviewer.fr and Le Village, the Doctor Who showrunner commented: “Moriarty’s a one-shot deal in the original [books]. I don’t want [Sherlock] to turn into a show that’s about one villain and one hero. Moriarty was great because he was a surprise. Every time you bring him back he won’t be as big a surprise.”
He continued: “We need to find new villains, we need to find new ideas, otherwise the show doesn’t keep growing. There are other great villains in [the Conan Doyle books] that we want to visit. We have to keep the show growing otherwise it won’t surprise you. Once you get the measure of it you’ll just get critical – if we keep surprising you and keeping you off balance you won’t.”
The writer added: “It matters now, and increasingly it will have to be the case, that we pursue our own line with it; that it becomes its own thing. The audience have to think that they’re never safe with us…”
Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott, was apparently killed off earlier this year in the final episode of Series 2, The Reichenbach Fall.
> Read our exclusive interview with Andrew Scott.
A transmission date and filming details for Series 3 of Sherlock have not yet been announced, but co-creator Mark Gatiss revealed in January that a third series had been “commissioned at the same time as Series 2”.
Would you like to see Moriarty return? Let us know below…
Watch a clip from the Series 2 finale…