It’s time to talk about the mysterious, MIA third brother on “Sherlock”

The game is afoot once again, and that means that there are spoilers for Sherlock Season 4 out there, including right here! So if you haven’t yet watched “The Six Thatchers,” stop what you’re doing and go ahead and boot up BBC, or PBS, depending on where you are in the world.

For those of you still here, omg, the third Holmes brother LIVES.

Let’s back up a bit, and dive into a little bit of Sherlock mythology. In the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels, it is believed that along with Sherlock and Mycroft, there is actually an elder, third brother. The belief is that this third brother, named Sherrinford, actually stayed at home with Mom and Pop Holmes to look after them/the farm, so Mycroft could go off and have a government role, and Sherlock could become a detective. He is there, but never seen or heard.

There has literally been no indication that this third brother would ever show up on the BBC show, until the last episode of Season 3 when suddenly Mycroft drops this bombshell:

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[whispers]The third brother!!

At the top of the Sherlock episode, during the quick recap to bring us up to speed for Season 4, this above moment is once again shown. Mycroft makes a reference to another brother. You then forget about it during the episode — considering all the other insanity that happens — until the very end. Mycroft returns home to find nothing in his fridge, so he pulls a takeout menu off a magnet…

That reveals a Post-It note simply reading: 13th.

Mycroft picks up the phone, and asks to speak to Sherrinford and WHAT.

This, without a doubt, confirms our theories that a third Holmes brother is going to show up, and soon. There were some amazing rumors this past summer that if Sherrinford were to be introduced, he’d be played by Tom Hiddleston, and please?

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with this third brother, and how he plays into the greater game of Sherlock. We are ready — but let’s just hope Sherlock is, too.