Netflix just dropped Enola Holmes 3 globally today, July 1, yanking the teenage sleuth out of Victorian London and dropping her directly onto the sun-drenched island of Malta.
Millie Bobby Brown steps back into the titular role, but she isn’t playing a kid anymore. The franchise grew up. The plot sparks on Enola’s actual wedding day to Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge). That ceremony derails instantly when Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel) arrives with an urgent message. Sherlock Holmes is missing.
Henry Cavill’s older Holmes was kidnapped by a syndicate tied to arch-nemesis Moriarty, played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster. Moving the production to Malta does more than change the scenery. It gives the script room to fire shots at Britain’s colonial legacy and rigid class dynamics. Enola spends the runtime trying to figure out how to keep her rebellious independence while staring down a Victorian aristocratic marriage.
But the biggest shift happened behind the camera. Philip Barantini took the director’s chair from Harry Bradbeer. That swap changes the entire stylistic DNA of the film. Barantini drastically cuts down on Enola’s signature fourth-wall breaks, a move that is currently splitting critics.
Some outlets love the darker, sophisticated tone. But reviewers at TheWrap argue the new direction strips away the energetic personality and audience connection that made the first two films streaming juggernauts. Still, the ambitious narrative expansion holds up, with a detailed review by Mashable verifying the intricate Maltese plot and the high-stakes inclusion of Watson into the fray.