Fans of CBS's Sherlock-Holmes-in-modern-day-New York series "Elementary" will have to wait a while to see what follows the third season's cliffhanger finale. (I won't spoil it for anyone planning to binge-watch the whole season before the new one starts, but I will say that the events threaten to undo all of the progress in Holmes and Watson's relationship over the past three years.)

The series doesn't return until Nov. 5, which is fairly late into the fall season. CBS says this is part of "a multi-phase rollout" of the new season, but that's just a dressed-up way of saying that most of its shows debut at the end of September like normal fall series, but the Thursday shows have to wait until it's done airing Thursday Night Football.

But the network also offered some exciting news for when the show finally returns. Former "Fringe" and "Sleepy Hollow" star John Noble will feature in the new season as Sherlock's mysterious father. He arrives in the season premiere, and he's being called a "series regular," which means he'll be around at least for a while.

"We could not be more delighted to have John Noble taking on such an important role," said "Elementary" creator and executive producer Robert Doherty. "We've enjoyed his work for many years now -- especially his tremendous run on 'Fringe' -- and cannot wait to see him opposite Jonny and Lucy. It's going to be an exciting season."

This matches the template of the second season, when the show introduced Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, as a recurring character in order to add some more serialized elements to the show's mystery-of-the-week format.

He's out of family members now, though, so it's hard to say what they'll do in season 4.

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