'Sherlock' season 5 renewal update, latest news: Amanda Abbington willing to return if show is renewed

When the fourth season of BBC's "Sherlock" concluded with a final, non-cliffhanger montage, many of its viewers had felt that the show had finally come to a close.

Although the show's future and possible renewal for a fifth season is still up in the air, cast member Amanda Abbington has maintained that she would not hesitate about reprising her role as Mary Watson should "Sherlock" return for season 5.

For those who have watched "Sherlock" season 4, it can be recalled that Mary had met her demise after taking a bullet for Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a dramatic New Year's Day episode. However, Abbington still believes that her time in the popular BBC drama has not yet come to a complete end.

In a recent interview with Radio 1 DJ Greg James, as reported by the Radio Times, Abbington revealed that she received advice from co-star Andrew Scott (Moriarty) about her enduring role in "Sherlock."

"He said to me, you never leave," she said. "You never really leave Sherlock. And it's true, because they always do flashbacks and stuff like that. So I'm hoping that at some point Mary will come back and do something else," the actress added.

Mary's return in "Sherlock" season 5 — should it push through — is not totally inconceivable, considering that Abbington has reprised the role in season 4 as a figment of her husband John Watson's (Martin Freeman) imagination. She also made an appearance in the season finale through a DVD she had recorded for her husband before she died.

On her character's death, Abbington thought that killing off her character was the right thing to do. She said: "It was a good run, and I love the fact that they killed her off. Because she had to die anyway, because they killed her in the books, and I quite liked the dramatic-ness of it. It was good. It was quite Bond-esque, and it felt quite dark and mysterious, and she takes a bullet, she's like a hero."

At the moment, there is still no official confirmation that "Sherlock" will be returning for a fifth season. However, executive producers and writers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have revealed that should the show return, they already prepared some ideas about what "Sherlock" stories they will tell.

In an interview with the Radio Times, the show's writers revealed that if there will be a "Sherlock" season 5, then its objective is to restore the series to its "factory settings," go back to the beginning, and see Sherlock and John as younger men.