"Sherlock" fans will just have to wait a little longer as it now appears that the BBC hit series will return with its fourth season in 2017.

Digital Spy just revealed that the Benedict Cumberbatch drama would start filming in spring 2016. Co-creator Steven Moffat has confirmed the new season during the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) winners press conference.

If that is the case, then "Sherlock" may indeed come back on the screen sometime in 2017, just like what recent reports speculated, providing that the production team finishes within two years of filming.

Meanwhile, Moffat has revealed that season 4 will be about "consequences." Previously, he said that it would represent "an emotional upheaval," which would leave the fans "desperate" for the next installment.

"It's consequences. Chickens come to roost. It's dark in some ways - obviously it's great fun and a Sherlock Holmes romp and all that - but there's a sense of things coming back to bite you," Moffat said.

It looks like fans have something to add up to the growing list of spoilers on the show's storyline before it airs in a couple of years. MNR Daily has previously reported that John may become a father in season 4, while Sherlock could have a new girlfriend in Molly.

In the meantime, viewers can look forward to the 90-minute special that the show is preparing for the latter part of the year. Moffat told Entertainment Weekly earlier that it would be a complete separate scenario from the series and that it would be set during the Victorian era.

"The special is its own thing. It's not part of the run of three episodes. [Co-creator] Mark Gatiss and me, we wanted to do this, but it had to be a special, it had to be separate entity on its own. It's kind of in its own little bubble," he said. 

The special episode will air this Christmas.