--- title: Sherlock Has a Dog Sidekick in First Season 4 Photo description: Sherlock reveals first look at a new character canonical: https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-15T15:38:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:34:26.230Z og:title: Benedict Cumberbatch Has a New Sidekick in First 'Sherlock' Season 4 Photo og:description: Unfortunately, it's not Andy Murray og:url: https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39c0bbf96d0a69a/69889c16bc6cfc6c4c3ddcfc/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dog og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Benedict Cumberbatch Has a New Sidekick in First 'Sherlock' Season 4 Photo twitter:description: Unfortunately, it's not Andy Murray twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39c0bbf96d0a69a/69889c16bc6cfc6c4c3ddcfc/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Benedict Cumberbatch Has a New Sidekick in First _Sherlock_ Season 4 Photo by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Jul 15, 2016 3:38 PM UTC  Courtesy of Sherlock, BBC One by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Jul 15, 2016 3:38 PM UTC When Sherlock returns for a fourth season, he may have a new canine friend. In a [new first-look image](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36804603) from the fourth season of the series, we see Sherlock in London explaining his deep thoughts to a hound who looks sufficiently impressed. Sherlock has previously gotten his head straight by spending time in his “mind palace” at home with Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman), but Watson may now have some best friend competition: as we can see in the photo, Freeman isn’t anywhere to be found. The new three-part [series](http://time.com/4165328/sherlock-benedict-cumberbatch-steven-moffat/) is due to premiere in 2017, but the show is still making news long before the premiere. On Thursday, the _Sherlock_ Christmas special “The Abominable Bride,” scored six Emmy nods, including one for Cumberbatch as best lead actor in a limited series. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36804603)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/"},"headline":"Benedict Cumberbatch Has a New Sidekick in First Sherlock Season 4 Photo","datePublished":"2016-07-15T15:38:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:26.230Z","description":"New leash on life","url":"https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Sherlock","Benedict Cumberbatch"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39c0bbf96d0a69a/69889c16bc6cfc6c4c3ddcfc/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte39c0bbf96d0a69a/69889c16bc6cfc6c4c3ddcfc/dog.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dog","caption":"","creditText":"Courtesy of Sherlock, BBC One","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4407897/benedict-cumberbatch-sherlock-dog-season-4-photo/","name":"Benedict Cumberbatch Has a New Sidekick in First Sherlock Season 4 Photo"}}]}] ```