Sherlock Season 3 Spoilers: Separating the Pranks from the Facts

After my last love affair with the Setlock tag on Tumblr, I found myself checking the tag at a obnoxiously frequent pace. The crew was gone over the weekend for the Easter holiday, but the tag exploded again on Monday morning. Yes, yes, it was April fools day and there were pranks abound (more on that later), but there were also many pictures and video from the set that cannot be faked (aww, the fangirling in that video makes me smile). So let’s discuss what we’ve seen so far, shall we?

Mondays shoot was in Cheltenham, a town a good two hours outside of London. They set up shop at a restaurant called The Daffodil and all the key players were on hand. Benedict Cumberbatch arrived in a nice jacket and a cute little hat while Martin Freeman showed up still sporting his epic mustachio, a baggy coat (same one from The Great Game? Or is it a personal coat to protect from the cold? Not sure), and a beanie cap. Amanda Abbington and Mark Gatiss were also on hand. Whether Gatiss is there in a crew or an acting capacity isn’t clear. Whatever scene is being filmed, it seems like everyone is involved.  It’s all very exciting.

I do, however, find it odd that they’d travel two or more hours for an interior shoot. If they needed a fancy restaurant, you’d think there would have been one in London somewhere, but I guess if you’ve got a good budget and fall in love with an interior it’s not big deal to pick everything up and travel for that perfect setting.  Mark Gatiss did appear to regret being so far from home, judging by his tweet on the “offensively slow” train ride home.  There’s also been several tweets where people state they saw formal wear being carried in. There’s also a few pictures of the fanciness. People have speculated that this might be a wedding party of some kind. If you look at the website for the restaurant it is extraordinarily fancy. This would lend support to the idea that Amanda Abbington is playing Mary Morstan since they got married in the books and both of them were on hand for this shoot.  One report states that John tries to beat up a waiter that looks like Sherlock while on a dinner date at some point. Not sure if that’s this scene, but it could be.

Of course, since it was April 1st there were some other leaks that had nothing to do with the set that came out on Tumblr. Apparently the first ten minutes of The Empty Hearse got leaked, but taken down before most people had a chance to see it. Some people are summarizing what they saw, but it’s fake.  So so fake. Don’t worry. You didn’t miss anything. The Sherleaked tag is good for entertainment purposes, however.

Once again, check dudeufugly, who is basically the hero of the Setlock tag. And I totally neglected to mention londongypsy, who has also played a huge part on bringing all this magic to Tumblr. Also mycroft-holmes-approves is still bein’ awesome.

P.S. Here is a lovely high res picture of Benedict Cumberbatch from the set. You’re welcome.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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