Two of Britain's best recent miniseries are finally gearing up for new seasons: on the heels of Idris Elba's psychological crime drama Luther's third season announcement, there has now finally been confirmation of a new series of the BBC One hit Sherlock as well.  Though Sherlock was more of a "when, not if" scenario (with writing taking place, reportedly, near the end of last year), its stars have been busy with other projects -- Benedict Cumberbatch has been in Germany filming the Wikileaks movie The Fifth Estate, while Martin Freeman has been filming The Hobbit trilogy.

But somehow it's all finally coming together (Amen!) and initial read-throughs will start next Monday.  This is a few months after its original shooting date, but better late than never.  Hit the jump for more about upcoming directors for the three new episodes.

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The actors have been hard to wrangle yes, but even the directors are far-flung.  Sadly, Paul McGuigan, who directed four of the first six episodes, won't be on board for the third season because he's filming the newest Frankenstein film.  Jeremy Lovering (who recently has directed episodes of Doctor Who and Ripper Street) will take his place for the first two episodes, which are scheduled to film before summer, and a final one will shoot afterwards.  The series is slated to return in the winter.

The second season of Sherlock ended with Holmes stepping off of a building and looking to have died (at least, as far as Watson knew, as he recounted in a heartbreaking finale).  Obviously, he didn't.  One of the biggest mysteries, which may or may not be addressed in the new season is of course how he pulled it off.  Regardless, this new set of episodes should be just as emotional and quippy and lavishly filmed as the prior ones.  A final question though: what about Moriarty?

If you have been missing Cumberbatch, consider taking a gander at Parade's End, which recently aired on HBO.  And while we wait for Sherlock, luckily there's still Luther to look forward to.

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