Enola Holmes 3: Here’s What We Know About The Sequel & Its Connection to Books

With the arrival of the second Enola Holmes movie on Netflix, we are going to take a look and see what we can expect in the upcoming development of the project. Are there any indications of this popular adaptation continuing to make its way onto our screens, will there be Enola Holmes 3? Here’s what we know so far.

We cannot be sure whether there will be Enola Holmes 3, but from what we can tell there will most likely be a third movie in the making if it outperforms the first movie. The original author of the book series called „An Enola Homles Mystery“, Nancy Springer so far has seven books out and two of them were nominated for Edgar Awards for Best Juvenile Mystery.

It seems that the project has a good base and it’s further promising on how deeply involved the star Millie Bobby Brown is, in different interviews, she said how this project was a new challenge for her because she found herself in the role of a producer. With everything said, let’s take a look at all the facts related to the third movie!

Movie vs. the book

Going back a little bit, let’s recap what happened in the first Enola Holmes movie and how it compares to the book by Nancy Springer. The movie starts off with the disappearance of Eudoria, Enola’s mother. She taught Enola everything she knows. She was her tutor and guide in her most formative years.

They have been living together in the countryside and Enola has never really interacted with anyone else other than Eudoria and their housemaid. With her mother’s disappearance came along her two older brothers Sherlock and Mycroft who she hasn’t seen in ten years. Her brother Sherlock is the world’s most famous detective in this movie played by Henry Cavill.

Eudoria, played by Helena Bonham Carter has a unique character and just like Sherlock is witty and intelligent. She loves solving mysteries and didn’t disappear without leaving some clues for Enola. Up until the point of Enola’s decision to leave her brothers so she didn’t have to go to a boarding school for girls, the movie is very similar to the books.

Another slight difference is in Enola’s age, in the books she is fourteen and in the movies, she matches Milly’s experience of being closer to sixteen. We can definitely say that this movie had a teen audience in mind but also wanted to deal with some topics in a mature way so that older audiences can enjoy the film as well.

One of the bigger differences between the two is also how intricate the case is in the movie, the books are intended for younger generations so the cases are not so detailed.

The original author

Springer’s first book The Case of the Missing Marquess came out in 2006 and it was very well received, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Enola a „Highly appealing heroine“, other reviews were also positive calling the book fast-paced and suspenseful, well written and despite its slow beginning it had an unexpected ending. The first and the fifth book called The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline received an Edgar Award nomination.

Springer’s own life story has some correlations, she also had two older brothers who left for college by the time she hit puberty. Her mother, who was a professional artist, painted oil portraits of pets and unfortunately passed away when she was only fourteen. Seems like this and the fact that she read a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories as a child could’ve inspired her to write the books.

Feminist themes

Something that the movie touches on a lot is the topic of women’s rights issues. When we look at when the story takes place, at the end of the 1800s, women’s rights issues were on the rise.

Specifically in 1884 when Enola Holmes is taking place, Susan B. Anthony testified before the U.S. Congress supporting women’s suffrage. Where she urged the senators to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to include the right for women to vote: „…shall prohibit the disenfranchisement of citizens of the United States on account of sex…“.

In the movie Eudoria plans a protest for women’s rights issues, it also references this appeal towards the government at the end of the movie which wasn’t in the original story. When Eudora and Enola reunite she tells her that her goal is to make a better world for her.

Something that we also see in the dynamic between Enola and her brothers is that they treat her differently because she’s a girl. Mycroft especially, his insistence for Enola to learn proper manners by hiring her a private tutor to show her how to be a woman of the society and eventually taking her to boarding school.

The potential for the third movie coming out, for now, seems promising. We will definitely know more after tomorrow’s release (November 4th) of Enola Homles 2, and follow the ratings throughout the following month.

The release of the first movie was during the pandemic and with Netflix landing worldwide rights except for China it was one of the more successful releases having 76 million households watching in the first 28 days.