#BelieveinSherlock

What do Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, and Star Trek all have in common? The answer is simple, really: actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

It’s caused quite the uproar and an entire web-based fan movement.

Cumberbatch will play the role of Khan in the upcoming Star Trek film, while Freeman made a big impact as the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

However, the pair is known to fans worldwide as Sherlock (Cumberbatch) and Watson (Freeman) in BBC’s series Sherlock.

“They have such great chemistry together. Their relationship just makes the show,” high school sophomore and Sherlock fan Sierra Bailey-Van Kuren said.

But this success for the actors of Sherlock has caused a delay on the show’s third season. Season two ended in late 2011, and according to the BBC website, it will not come until late 2013 or perhaps even 2014, depending on the actors’ availability and time to prepare the sets.

It’s causing quite the emotional viewer response, too. “God, it’ll come out, like, when I graduate,” fellow student Hannah Williams said. “I can’t handle this kind of torture.”

When asked their predictions for the upcoming season, Bailey-Van Kuren had only suspense to share. “That’s part of what I like a lot about it, is the never knowing what’ll happen with it.” Bailey-Van Kuren said, “The show can go in so many ways without ever exhausting the plot options and you never see it coming.”

Within the show’s canon, John Watson publishes a regular personal blog, which becomes more about the detective work done by his flatmate and friend, Sherlock Holmes.  While he frequently finds himself in danger, and while a dangerous mastermind is after them both, John continues publishing out of loyalty. Unlike all the other characters of the show, he never gives up on Sherlock.

At the end of the last-aired season of Sherlock, the fan community began to question what would happen if they lived in the show’s universe, if they followed the blog about Sherlock which Watson loyally publishes.

Even in dark times and adversity, John Watson of the show continues to publish the fantastic stories his friend lives, showing his loyalty to the end. And from that, users on twitter, Tumblr and other social media sites began the #BelieveInSherlock movement, to show their own loyalty, despite the lack of any news or production of the show. This lack of new material from Moffat becomes their equivalent of all the accusations of Sherlock being a ‘sociopath,’ or even that his dangerous enemy, Moriarty, wasn’t real.

Ever since #BelieveInSherlock  began, the true test of a fan, of course, lies in one question: “Do you believe in Sherlock?”

Williams expressed great excitement, a light coming to her eyes. “I only had a sign on my locker for a year!” She said, her voice loud and fast.

And there you have it. The wait will be long, and it leads to the undiscovered, but one thing remains true: the coming season will likely have a long-anticipated and wide response.

As a teaser to the waiting fans, creator Stephen Moffat gave three one-word clues, each describing an upcoming episode.

What do Sherlockians have to ponder on in the coming months? “Rat,” “Wedding,” and “Bow.” Aside from that, the season premiere will be the only answers the show’s creators will give its audience.

Of course, this causes its own speculation from bloggers worldwide. People are going to many lengths to decipher the code. The most popular one to worry about being “Wedding,” which has caused speculation from Sherlock marrying Irene Addler, to John finding a wife, or even the show’s villain, Moriarty staging some kind of wedding.

While the third season is perhaps a year away, deductions, enthusiasm and anticipation are still running amok.

It’s Elementary.