The classic Sherlock Holmes story is a static one. There’s the ornery detective, his warmer sidekick, and a new mystery to solve—lather, rinse, and repeat for as many sequels, prequels, and reimaginings as the market will support. That’s not the case for Netflix’s Enola Holmes series, however. From the beginning, it’s been as much a Victorian coming-of-age saga as a mystery series. The famous detective’s kid sister (Millie Bobby Brown) was forced out of the nest and into finishing school in the first film and then spent the second building a career, finding a place in society, and falling in love. Now Enola Holmes 3 keeps that arc going, with a film that downplays the zip and pluck for something a little more mature.
It’s not just that the movie opens on Enola’s impending wedding to long-time love interest Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), it’s that it’s genuinely interested in what it would mean for a young woman who has spent the past few years making a name for herself as a detective to give it up to marry, as the requirements of her society and Tewkesbury’s aristocratic status demand. Has she reclaimed the Holmes’ moniker from Sherlock (Henry Cavill) just to trade it in? There’s also the fact that, much as the second film put the real-life history of London’s 1888 Matchgirls’ Strike front and center, this one tackles colonization via the British Empire’s oppressive role in places like Afghanistan, India, and Malta. At one point, a Maltese freedom fighter scoffs at Enola that he won’t explain colonial indignities to a colonizer, while elsewhere a British commander justifies his war crimes with a terse “there are practicalities in war that go beyond the mere morality of ‘good.'” Quite a long way from jokes about corsets being uncomfortable!
It’s admittedly a slightly odd fit for a series that can’t quite decide if it wants to present a race-blind version of the past a la Bridgerton or if race is one of the societal oppressions it’s interested in exploring—particularly as it relates to Sherlock’s new flatmate Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel) and especially the Holmes family’s archenemy Professor Moriarty (Black British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster). If Enola Holmes recaptures the sparkle of live-action Disney films from the ’90s, it can occasionally replicate some of that era’s well-meaning stumbles too. Still, it’s a sign of the franchise’s growing maturity that it wants to challenge Enola’s privilege in addition to critiquing the era’s sexism.
Taking the reins from Fleabag‘s Harry Bradbeer, new franchise helmer Philip Barantini (reteaming with Adolescence writer Jack Thorne) also turns down the steampunk-infused comedy and turns up the action-adventure vibes this time around. The whole film unfolds in Malta, where Enola’s impending nuptials give way to a sort of Indiana Jones-style romp that starts with her in a wedding dress aiming a shotgun from the top of a moving carriage and swiftly moves on to kidnapping, arson, buried treasure, and plenty of the series’ signature jujutsu fight scenes.
While the past two movies could sometimes struggle to create completely cohesive mysteries for Enola to solve, this one barely even tries in that regard. Instead, the heart of the story belongs to the action, the colonial critique, and especially to Enola and Tewkesbury’s relationship as they work through what they want their version of a 19th-century marriage to look like. “Holmesbury” shippers will be well-rewarded by the many, many glossy romantic shots of the two gender-convention-upending lovebirds staring into each other’s eyes. Where the last two Enola installments were aimed at families, this one feels aimed squarely at the young audience who fell in love with the first film when they were 10 and want to watch it evolve in a more serious, romantic direction now that they’re 16.
That makes Enola Holmes 3 a more insular, less natural jumping-on point for new viewers. It’s missing a lot of the eccentric, all-ages charm of its two predecessors (and really missing Daniel Pemberton’s score). Still, in a world where so much IP filmmaking seems focused on keeping audiences perpetually locked in adolescence, it’s nice to see a franchise that wants to grow with its viewers—and with its leading lady. From the beginning, this series has been a passion project for Brown, who pitched the idea of adapting Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes Mysteries books and has served as a producer and creative voice on all three films. She knows better than most what it’s like to be stuck playing a kid long after you’ve aged out of that demographic. With Enola Holmes, one of her signature characters finally gets to grow up.
Director: Philip Barantini
Writer: Jack Thorne
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge, Himesh Patel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter
Release Date: July 1, 2026 (Netflix)
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