The first teaser for Netflix's Enola Holmes has now been released and reveals a release date of September 23. The trailer gives us a glimpse at Millie Bobby Brown as the titular character, as well as The Witcher star Henry Cavill, who will be portraying the burliest version of Sherlock Holmes ever committed to screen.
Enola Holmes is an adaptation of the mystery-thriller book series of the same name, written by Nancy Springer. The source material on which the movie will be based chronicles the adventures of Sherlock Holmes' younger sister Enola (a creation of Springer's and not part of the established canon) who, when her mother disappears, decides to become a super-sleuth in her own right. Running away to London where she establishes a clandestine private detective career specializing in missing person investigations, Enola must also keep ahead of her brothers who are determined to capture and force her to conform to their expectations.
The upcoming adaptation has some supremely talented individuals at the helm, with the movie being directed by Harry Bradbeer and written by Jack Thorne. Bradbeer has seen a lot of success recently with the likes of the hit series' Fleabag and Killing Eve, whilst Thorne is the writer behind the movie Wonder and last year's adaptation of His Dark Materials. Alongside Millie Bobby Brown as the title character, Enola Holmes stars Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw, Adeel Akhtar, and Frances de la Tour, as well as Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes, Enola, Sherlock, and Mycroft's mother.
"What you're watching is a young girl trying to find herself in hectic chaos that she doesn't really know how to handle, but that's just kind of life in general for a teenage girl," says Millie Bobby Brown, who has seen huge success since her standout performance as Eleven in the hugely popular Netflix sci-fi/horror series Stranger Things. The director behind Enola Holmes has lauded Brown's "extraordinary level of spontaneity and invention" as well as her bravery, with the actress throwing herself into the physical aspects of the role. "Whether you were dunking her in a bucket of water and trying to drown her or throwing fireworks at her, she was just so up for it", he said of the 16-year-old star.
Despite the movie not having been released yet, Enola Holmes has already found herself in trouble, with the estate of Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle currently suing Netflix, Legendary, and the author, writer, and director behind the upcoming movie over copyright and trademark issues. Evidently, the issue is Sherlock Holmes being made too friendly, with the suit claiming that, despite most of the original Sherlock Holmes now being in the public domain, this does not pertain to Doyle's last 10 stories about the character. The claim is that the Enola Holmes book series, and therefore the upcoming movie, borrow certain elements from these stories, namely the famously stoic detective's emotional state.
How the lawsuit shakes out remains to be seen, but audiences can now look forward to seeing the adventures of Enola Holmes when the movie hits the streaming service in September. This comes to us courtesy of Netflix's official Twitter account.