'Sherlock' releases cryptic Season 4 episode titles

By the time Sherlock's fourth season premieres, it will have been three years since Moriarty's unhinged grin came back into the Baker Street detective's life. Little is known about the new season, but the BBC has just released episode titles in advance for fans to pore over and speculate.

Every Sherlock episode references Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original works, such as the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" being adapted into the episode "A Scandal in Belgravia." Season 4 will open with "The Six Thatchers," which likely comes from "The Six Napoleons," followed by "The Dying Detective," which is close to Doyle's "The Lying Detective.

At Comic Con, producers teased the new season with one word each, and Mark Gatiss chose "Thatcher." In Doyle's original work, six Napoleon sculptures are destroyed, so the episode may feature a similar crime with a modern historical figure at the center (there's also a post about it on John Watson's blog). The other producers' key words were "Smith" and "Sherrinford," the latter of which exist's in the original stories as Sherlock and Mycroft's older brother.

Sherlock returns in January 2017.