Netflix released "Enola Holmes 3" on July 1, 2026, closing out a trilogy that began six years earlier and has quietly become one of the streamer's most dependable franchises. Adapted once again from Nancy Springer's bestselling young-adult book series, the film is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 45 minutes. It finds Millie Bobby Brown's title character no longer the wide-eyed teenager of 2020, but a confident, capable detective who can go toe-to-toe with her famous older brother. The story swaps London's fog for Malta's sunlit coastline, and trades the series' earlier comic zip for something moodier and more grown-up, a shift that pays off in some scenes and drains momentum in others.
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| Image Credit: Netflix |
The plot opens mid-ceremony, with Enola arriving at her own wedding to Lord Tewkesbury, played once again by Louis Partridge, on a lavish Maltese hillside. The celebration falls apart almost instantly: Sherlock Holmes, reprised by Henry Cavill, is abducted the night before, and Tewkesbury's mother, Lady Tewkesbury, played by Hattie Morahan, disappears soon after. Enola postpones her nuptials to team up with Dr. Watson, played by Himesh Patel, following clues Sherlock reportedly left behind in anticipation of exactly this scenario. The investigation eventually implicates the franchise's recurring villain, Professor Moriarty, portrayed by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and pulls in heavier historical material than the earlier films attempted, including subplots involving Maltese resistance to British colonial rule and the British Army's plundering of gold during the Anglo-Afghan Wars. Helena Bonham Carter also returns as Enola's unpredictable mother, Eudoria, whose reappearance anchors much of the film's emotional payoff.
Behind the camera, director Philip Barantini, best known for the acclaimed limited series "Adolescence," takes over from Harry Bradbeer, who helmed the first two entries. Barantini brings a noticeably different visual approach, favoring longer, more fluid takes that give certain sequences, particularly an early one establishing just how formidable Enola has become, a real sense of craft and confidence. Screenwriter Jack Thorne returns to keep some continuity in tone, though the script this time juggles considerably more plates: a kidnapping mystery, a wedding-in-limbo romance, a colonial-history subplot, and a Moriarty showdown all competing for oxygen. It is, frankly, a lot, and the film occasionally buckles under its own ambition. Threads involving Maltese freedom fighters and Watson's wartime past feel underdeveloped, sketched in rather than earned, while the pacing loses the brisk, propulsive quality that made the earlier films so easy to enjoy.
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What still works, and works well, is Brown herself. She remains a natural fit for this character, and watching Enola confidently canvass a crime scene, spot Morse-coded fingerprints, and chain together clues in rapid succession is as satisfying here as it's ever been. Her chemistry with Partridge also continues to be a genuine strength; their negotiation of what marriage means for two people who have spent years as equal partners in adventure gives the film an emotional throughline that lands even when the plot around it wobbles. Cavill's Sherlock, meanwhile, gets some of his best material yet, his skepticism toward his sister's wedding plans adding welcome friction to their sibling dynamic. Composers Aaron May and David Ridley score the film, stepping in for Daniel Pemberton, who scored the first two entries.
Visually, the Maltese setting, shot on location in Valletta and Mdina, is a genuine asset, giving the franchise a fresh backdrop after two films rooted almost entirely in London. But the film's insistence on tackling weightier real-world subject matter, colonialism, war crimes, systemic injustice, sits somewhat uneasily against its glossy, crowd-pleasing instincts, never quite finding the balance the second film struck with its matchgirls' strike storyline. The result is a threequel that is never dull, occasionally thrilling, and clearly interested in letting its heroine mature alongside the audience that has grown up with her, even if it doesn't consistently earn the bigger swings it takes. Fans of the series will likely find plenty to enjoy; those hoping for the tightly plotted charm of the earlier films may come away wishing for a little more focus.
