“Sherlock” fans, we’ve got some seriously bad news about the next season

Ever since the Season 4 finale, we’ve been questioning whether we could see a return of Sherlock and John Watson any time soon, and it now seems that the answer could be a big resounding no :(.

The last season of Sherlock left us SHOOK. Whether it was *that* familial twist, the dark side of Mary, Sherlock’s treatment of Molly Hooper, noticing those *little* plot holes in “The Final Problem,” or the return of Moriarty (be it in the past), we were drawn into the those last three episodes, and, as always, left wondering whether we could be returning to 221B Baker Street in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-T_bv7b5g?feature=oembed

Well, sitting down on British magazine TV program The One Show, Andrew Scott (who plays Moriarty) said that we could be waiting a long time before Sherlock comes back.

The Irish actor was jokingly asked whether the popular detective series could return before another general election is held in the U.K. —something that usually takes place every five years (this year being an exception).

“I don’t think there’s another series of Sherlock coming soon,” he said. “I think another general election would come first!”

Booo!

Continuing, the actor said that it would be YEARS before we saw more from the Baker St. boys.

"We're not doing [Sherlock] for another couple of years," he said. "Everybody got quite busy, you know? You want to keep it fresh and stuff like that."

Andrew Scott’s comments come after showrunner and co-creator Steven Moffat, who is also the showrunner of Doctor Who, teased that he wasn’t finished telling the story of Holmes and Watson.

However, co-creator Mark Gatiss recently told Digital Spy that he and Moffat were, in fact, working on a new project together, which has us VERY intrigued.

“I’ve got a lot on and Steven is just desperate to write something [else] other than Doctor Who and Sherlock, so I think it’ll be a way off,” he said. “But we definitely have plans for something juicy!”

While we’re excited to hear what the dream team of Gatiss and Moffat have been cooking up, we’re pretty upset to learn that it might NEARLY HALF A DECADE until Sherlock returns *sob*.

However, what this does mean is that it might not be the end for the beloved show. And if we’ve learned anything from four seasons of Sherlock, it’s to expect the unexpected.