Millie Bobby Brown’s Enola Holmes Returns in Netflix’s Third Film With a Kidnapping

Netflix’s third installment in its popular Enola Holmes franchise arrived Tuesday with Millie Bobby Brown reprising her role as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister in a sunnier, darker and more action-heavy chapter set against the backdrop of Malta, drawing a divided critical reception that praised Brown’s performance while questioning whether the series has begun to show signs of franchise fatigue.

“Enola Holmes 3,” rated PG-13 and running one hour and 45 minutes, begins on wedding day. Enola is about to marry Lord Tewkesbury, played again by Louis Partridge, in a ceremony set on the sun-drenched Mediterranean island. Before she can reach the altar, news arrives that her brother Sherlock, played by Henry Cavill, has been kidnapped, and Tewkesbury’s mother is taken shortly afterward. The wedding is indefinitely postponed, the mystery takes over, and Enola races through Malta with Dr. Watson, played by Himesh Patel, to find the kidnappers before the situation turns fatal.

The film is directed by Philip Barantini, best known for the critically acclaimed Netflix series “Adolescence,” who takes over the franchise from Harry Bradbeer, who helmed the first two entries. The screenplay was again written by Jack Thorne, who adapted Nancy Springer’s YA book series for all three films. The ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter as Enola’s bomb-throwing revolutionary mother Eudoria, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as the villainous Moriarty and Susan Wokoma as Enola’s mentor Edith.

The film includes a clue left by Sherlock before his abduction that becomes central to the plot.

“A Holmes does not disappear without leaving clues for a Holmes,” Enola observes in the film.

The shift to Malta gives the film its most visually distinctive look of the trilogy, trading London’s gloomy Victorian streets and fog for sparkling Mediterranean light and colorful architecture. Several critics noted the change of scenery as one of the film’s stronger decisions, lending the story a fresh visual energy that helps distinguish this installment from its predecessors.

Among the more enthusiastic reviews, Tom’s Guide described the third film as “easily” the reviewer’s favorite in the franchise, citing the emotional depth added to the story through Enola’s ambivalence about marriage and the fear of losing herself in the role of Victorian aristocratic wife alongside her fear of failing to save her brother. RogerEbert.com praised Brown as “ideally cast” and highlighted the film’s action sequences, puzzles and romance as dynamic and engaging elements, adding that “when she speaks directly to us, it feels good to be part of her story.”

MovieWeb similarly called the villain “deliciously fiendish” and praised the film’s ambition in raising the franchise’s stakes.

Critical reviews at the other end of the spectrum identified a set of recurring concerns about pacing, mystery quality and tonal inconsistency. Collider called the film “mostly forgettable,” arguing that while Brown continues to charm in the lead role, the mystery itself is lazy, largely predictable and telegraphed from early in the running time, a particular problem for a series built explicitly on the detective genre’s tradition of genuine puzzle-solving. IndieWire noted that while Barantini brings a more grown-up touch to the material, the choice doesn’t always mesh comfortably with the franchise’s characteristic exuberance, creating a film that feels caught between its desire to mature alongside its audience and its obligation to retain the playful energy that distinguished the original.

Gulf News offered perhaps the most pointed mixed assessment, describing the film as resembling banana bread: “Fine, but nothing to make a fuss about.” The review flagged the feminist and colonial commentary as clumsily integrated into the plot, suggested the villain lacked the nuance appropriate for a Holmes story and criticized a pattern in which Enola’s detective work increasingly gives way to action sequences.

Variety noted that while Enola’s fourth-wall breaks and deductive moments remain charming, some of the real-world social commentary about the suffrage movement and workers’ rights that made the earlier films feel particularly vital is largely absent here, replaced by plot threads about Maltese independence fighters and Dr. Watson’s military past that feel like afterthoughts.

Hollywood Reporter, in perhaps the most concisely worded verdict across the critical coverage, offered what it called a “bottom line” that the film was “elementary but enjoyable,” a play on Sherlock Holmes’ most famous phrase that captures the middling but watchable quality many critics identified.

Brown is again a producer on the film alongside Robert Brown, Michael Dreyer and Jack Thorne. The executive producer roster includes Joshua Grode and Jake Bongiovi. Director of photography Matthew Lewis shot the film on location in Malta and in studio, with production design by Gary Williamson and costumes by Consolata Boyle rounding out the period aesthetic.

The first Enola Holmes film, released in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, was watched by approximately 76 million households in its first four weeks on the platform, making it one of Netflix’s more successful original film launches and establishing Brown as a reliable franchise anchor for the streaming service alongside her work on “Stranger Things.” The sequel followed in 2022 with a broadly positive reception and solid viewership, setting up the third installment as the next test of whether the series can sustain long-term audience engagement.

Whether the franchise continues beyond this third film remains unclear. Some critics specifically called for a fourth entry if the creative team can sharpen the mystery writing, while others suggested the franchise has run its natural course and that Enola might be better served retiring gracefully rather than continuing in diminished form.

For now, “Enola Holmes 3” is available to stream exclusively on Netflix beginning Tuesday, July 1.