Comic-Con: Here's What We Learned About Sherlock 's Victorian Special

It's been two years since Sherlock appeared at Comic-Con, and it will be yet another year until the fourth season premieres. Although stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman were not present for Thursday's panel, creator Steven Moffat, producer Sue Vertue and actor Rupert Graves (who plays Inspector Lestrade) were on hand to tease this year's Victorian-era special that has no official air date yet. An additional bonus? Moffat announced that the episode will air on the big screen in select theaters, to be determined.

Here's what we learned:

An amuse bouche Moffat introduced a tiny little piece of the Victorian special. We see Sherlock and Watson -- in full Victorian garb (hat, mustache and all) -- arrive at 221B Baker Street. They exchange a few witty remarks with Mrs. Hudson, who replies, "I'm your landlady, not a plot device." Fortunately, the clip in all of its glory can be seen here for you to pause, replay and dissect:

Hairy Victorian times Two big differences we'll see is of the facial hair variety. Watson sports a dandy mustache (again) with a bit of a curl, while Graves revealed that he grew, "two hedges on my cheeks in the form of Victorian chops."

Get all the latest Comic-Con news

How do you solve a problem like Molly? Moffat explained that he wanted to stay true to his strong female characters, but in Victorian times and the original tales, Mrs. Hudson barely spoke. He had to figure out how to make her character feel true to the times without failing his creation. In addition, he realized that Molly never existed in the canon, and thus he had to create other characters to make up for her absence.

We miss Moriarty! Andrew Scott could not appear at the panel, but pre-taped a video that spoofed the actor's life. During that time, he called Cumberbatch and co-creator Mark Gatiss, both of whom appeared on screen via a video call. They proceeded to take over the video until Scott cut them off, stared menacingly at the audience and said, "Miss me?" as an echo of his last lines in last season's finale.

An Irene Adler return? "Honestly, I don't know," Moffat answered but he added, "We don't know what happened [to her]... Not knowing how that played out is better... they both smile once a day when they think of each other."

A haunted hint Good luck getting Moffat to reveal anything about upcoming shows, but when asked about his hint that "ghosts" would be at play in the Victorian episode, he said, "Surely it's obvious, and you can deconstruct the whole thing from that." Everybody, start your research now!

Sherlock's fourth season will come to the BBC and Masterpiece on PBS in 2016.

TODAY'S VIDEO: Wookiees and 11 other things we're psyched for at Comic-Con