Millie Bobby Brown isn’t just fighting the Demogorgon in Hawkins, she’s fighting the patriarchy in 1880s London in her new Netflix movie Enola Holmes. Enola, the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill), has been raised away from the hustle of London with her mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), in the countryside. “She was my whole world,” Enola says about her mother. When her mother goes missing, Enola is determined to find her.
Her first move is to locate her older brothers — Sherlock and Mycroft (Sam Claflin). She’s sure they’ll know what to do. Upon seeing her, Mycroft asks where her hat and gloves are. When she explains why she doesn’t have them, he is stunned. Mycroft immediately wants to make Enola “acceptable for society” by sending her to a finishing school. Sherlock doesn’t seem to think that’s the best idea. “She seems intelligent,” Sherlock says.
“There are two paths you can take, Enola. Yours or the path others choose for you,” her mother told her. This is the inspiration for Enola to set out on her own to find her mother. “The game is afoot,” she says. Enola runs away and knows she must stay hidden from her brothers. “I must become something unexpected… a lady,” she says.
During her journey to find her mom, Enola crosses paths with a very cute boy (Louis Partridge). They get themselves into some very dangerous situations. As her search continues, Enola wonders what her mother is really planning. Sherlock tells her, “She always had a reason for everything. Her own way of doing things.” Sherlock thinks maybe their mother wanted to change the world. “Perhaps it’s a world that needs changing,” Enola replies.
Enola Holmes marks Millie’s debut as the lead in a feature film and her first time producing. Millie opened up about why she wanted to take on the role of the teenage detective. “I love the fact that she can be very vulnerable yet even in her deepest despair she’s able to find herself again and fight back,” Millie says of her character. “I admire her courage and her strength. She goes to pretty dark places but she never gives up. It’s a big journey for her. She’s quite naïve and comes up against forces that are way beyond her. So she has to find her own resources, her own voice even when there is no one around to help her.” Enola Holmes, based on the beloved books by Nancy Springer, will begin streaming on Netflix on Sept. 23.