Back in August, the teaser trailer for Season 3 of Sherlock was released. But at that time, we still didn’t know when the show would return to television in the United States, other than simply in 2014.

Now, the season 3 start date has been revealed, thanks to an exclusive by Entertainment Weekly, who also debuted the first promo image from the third season (see it here below).

Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character with Martin Freeman as his sidekick Dr. Watson, will return to PBS Masterpiece for the third season on January 19, 2014 at 10pm.

The show will air first in the UK on the BBC, though that start date hasn’t been announced yet.

Per the interview at EW, the new episodes are reportedly “jaw dropping” (when aren’t they?!)

If you follow Sherlock, then you know that the famous detective was presumed dead at the end of Season 2 in the episode “The Reichenbach Fall,” so the Season 3 premiere, “The Empty Hearse,” will focus on how Watson (Freeman) is coping with Sherlock’s (Cumberbatch) death and then Sherlock’s return. (Watch Cumberbatch’s Comic-Con video message where he attempts to reveal how Sherlock survived.)

The second episode of Season 3 is called “The Sign of Three” and centers on Watson’s wedding to Mary Morstan, who will be played by Freeman’s real-life partner, Amanda Abbington; and the final episode, which is to air on February 2, 2014, is called “His Last Vow” (the original clues for the names of Season 3 were given as “rat, wedding, bow”).

Also for Season 3, Lars Mikkelsen, (Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen’s brother) will play the villain, Charles Augustus Magnussen.

Here’s the first look promo image from Season 3, revealed at EW:

[Source: EW]

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