Luckily, the internet and online trolls are not things her Victorian-era protagonist has to deal with; Enola\u2019s bag is more murder and good ol\u2019 fashioned skulduggery. Out on Netflix now, Enola Holmes 3 finds the brainy and brilliant Enola preparing to marry her foppish longtime beau Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) in a seaside ceremony in Malta. The wedding bells fall silent, however, when the bride-to-be discovers her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) has been kidnapped. Gasp!<\/p>\n
It goes without saying that Brown sees a lot of herself in Enola, an intrepid young woman on the precipice of adulthood, managing a gazillion expectations and the onus of a famous last name. \u201cShe and I have given a lot to each other,\u201d Brown says. \u201cI definitely think that growing up with a character really helps elevate it in a different way. It feels like multiple perspectives of me at different ages.\u201d Like Enola, Brown is also newly (relatively speaking) married; she lives with her husband Jake Bongiovi in rural Georgia with their baby daughter and a menagerie of rescues, including a great dane named Barbie, a geriatric dachshund named Rigby, and a goat named after the \u201cWAP\u201d rapper Cardi B.<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018I\u2019ve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EH3_Unit_03857Rcrop.jpeg\")
\u2018I\u2019ve worked with a lot of boys and men who don\u2019t feel that they\u2019ve been underestimated… shocker\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n
But growing up is not always sunshine and weddings and farm animals. Whether you\u2019re an amateur detective in the 19th century or an internationally known movie star today, coming of age is hard and confusing. It can get dark; any teenager will tell you that. All this to say that Philip Barantini \u2013 behind such heavy-hitting dramas as Adolescence and Boiling Point \u2013 is not as shocking a choice to direct Enola Holmes 3 as you might initially think. That said, Barantini, who took over from Harry Bradbeer, the director of the first two instalments, was still stunned to receive the call. <\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed it was going to be for something dark like Dune 3… but then they said Enola Holmes 3, and I thought, OK, well that\u2019s interesting,\u201d recalls Barantini. \u201cI read the script and realised that what Jack [Thorne, the writer] had done made it a whole lot darker, a lot more grown up.\u201d The change makes sense, Barantini notes: \u201cMillie is a grown woman now. And so I thought, well, if I can bring a bit of my own flavour to the franchise, I\u2019d love to give it a shot.\u201d <\/p>\n
The third film ups the ante on all fronts. Romantically, too. Partridge \u2013 a rumoured front runner for the coveted James Bond tux<\/a> \u2013 does exude a certain 007-ish quality. \u201cOooh… well, I did have to hold a gun for the first time,\u201d he laughs. \u201cAnd I wore a three-piece suit. I was feeling pretty good, myself. The thought did cross my mind, but let\u2019s see.\u201d Next to him, Brown gives nothing away, only raising her eyebrows and grinning.<\/p>\n Millie\u2019s grown up and matured in the industry; she has a better understanding of it than actors who are three, four times her age<\/p>\n Sharon Duncan-Brewster<\/p>\n Unlike Bond, Enola Holmes 3 is still very much a family affair. Any action between our grown-up, loved-up protagonists remains pretty chaste \u2013 a peck here, a held gaze there \u2013 but there is one scene that is, dare I say, the most romantic of all. It involves hair. Before a late-night dip in the sea, Tewkesbury braids Enola\u2019s tresses into a single plait that falls against her back. \u201cYes, thank you!\u201d beams Brown when I bring it up<\/a>. \u201cThat was my idea; I wrote that into the script. We had this big scene and we were like, is it going to be a kiss that\u2019s going to make the audience swoon? What is it?\u201d <\/p>\n The idea actually came from Brown\u2019s marriage. \u201cMy husband, at night, he braids my hair, and I think it is the most adorable, loving thing,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with the fact that he does that for me. And so I thought, that\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d Partridge laughs, recalling how Brown had to teach him to braid in all of two minutes.<\/p>\n The two share an easy intimacy, ribbing one another gently in that familiar tone typically reserved for siblings. Oddly enough, it made the romantic scenes that much easier to film. \u201cI don\u2019t think we could ever be awkward,\u201d says Partridge. \u201cIt\u2019s been awesome growing up together because it\u2019s like anything goes, in this fun, creative way. I\u2019m not afraid to make a complete fool of myself, so that gives us licence to mess around.\u201d Brown agrees wholeheartedly. \u201cSometimes we\u2019ll be just about to kiss and the director will ask us to hold there and stare at each other for two minutes. Those are the moments that I think, if it were a stranger, I would want to die. But with Lou, it\u2019s easy.\u201d <\/p>\n More adult than the romantic elements is the movie\u2019s handling of serious subjects like Britain\u2019s colonial history, which finds itself under Enola\u2019s magnifying glass thanks to the film\u2019s Maltese setting; the island was under British rule from 1800 until 1964. Exploring social issues is not unique to this third entry in the franchise: the first film looked at vote reform; the second at workers\u2019 rights and female-led trade unions. <\/p>\n It\u2019s one of many things that drew Himesh Patel<\/a> \u2013 of Yesterday and The Odyssey fame \u2013 to his role as Dr Watson, loyal sidekick and forbearing flatmate to Cavill\u2019s Sherlock. \u201cThe films are trying to say something about the modern world through the lens of historical issues, and I think that\u2019s something to be admired,\u201d says Patel. <\/p>\n To that end, the franchise villain Moriarty \u2013 unmasked in a dramatic reveal at the end of the second film \u2013 is depicted in a sort of sympathetic light. Moriarty\u2019s evil is not without reason. The hypocrisy of the British empire for one thing, and her treatment as a Black woman for another. \u201cThat\u2019s what I love about Moriarty: she\u2019s always come with a mission to call out what isn\u2019t fair,\u201d says Sharon Duncan-Brewster, the actor who plays her. \u201cThere\u2019s no secret as to the colonial history of Great Britain, and I get to approach elements of conversations that a lot of people are scared to have. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not an angry Black woman, but stuff needs to be said and we need to talk about it. If you\u2019re talking about reparations and that sort of thing, I\u2019m all for it. There needs to be an acknowledgement of sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking with the cast and crew of Enola Holmes about what it\u2019s like to work with Brown, the thing that keeps coming up is her age. More specifically, how easily it slips one\u2019s mind. \u201cI do often forget how young she is, just because she\u2019s got a sort of maturity beyond her years,\u201d says Patel, who praises her devotion as a producer. <\/p>\n Brown planned dinner and a games night at her house before filming started, to help speed along the on-set camaraderie. Duncan-Brewster, meanwhile, recalls meeting her for the first time: \u201cI was in admiration of this young being who was just manoeuvring around this busy world, making all of these decisions. But she\u2019s grown up and matured in the industry; she has a better understanding of it than actors who are three, four times her age.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth remembering, Barantini says, that the films were all her idea. It was Brown who initially pitched the film to Netflix after reading the books as a teenager, sensing there was an important story to be told here, a vital character to bring to life on screen. The film is as much her baby as it is her sibling.<\/p>\n Her confidence on camera, and behind it, has come with experience; this is the third Holmes film Brown has produced (she also served as an executive producer on the fantasy film Damsel, and is a producer on at least two more Netflix films due for release). \u201cDelegation is key,\u201d she says. \u201cI try to be in it because obviously I\u2019m the lead, so I want to be able to immerse myself in the character and not have to worry about everything behind the screen. But sometimes it gets tricky. I definitely lean on others.\u201d Not all the way, though. According to her co-stars, Brown was hands-on in her producer role. \u201cShe\u2019s hyper-focused and vocal,\u201d says Brewster-Duncan. \u201cShe means business!\u201d <\/p>\n This universal, and frankly heartwarming, praise for Brown follows years of the actor being underestimated by the public and her peers. It\u2019s another thing that she and Enola \u2013 not only a girl but a young girl, and the lesser-known sister to a more famous brother \u2013 have in common. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with a lot of boys and men who don\u2019t feel that they\u2019ve been underestimated… shocker,\u201d Brown says, with an audible eyeroll<\/a>. \u201cI feel, coming from my perspective as a female child actor, there was a lot of pressure and a lot of scrutiny of the way I looked. I constantly felt underestimated by everyone. And for so long I was trying to prove everyone wrong, but I\u2019ve come to the realisation, after having my daughter, that I don\u2019t actually care.\u201d<\/p>\n She smiles as though she is vocalising this feeling for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cI cared for a really long time, but I don\u2019t any more! And I don\u2019t underestimate myself any more, and that\u2019s really the most important lesson I\u2019ve learnt. As a girl, that\u2019s the reason I felt so passionate about Enola Holmes, because I want girls to see her on screen, and feel with her, and be her. In many ways, I did this for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Enola Holmes 3\u2019 is streaming on Netflix<\/p>\n![\"Louis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EH3_Unit_12046R.jpeg\")
Louis Partridge, Millie Bobby Brown and Himesh Patel in \u2018Enola Holmes 3\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n![\"Philip](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283363718.jpeg\")
Philip Barantini, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Millie Bobby Brown, Louis Partridge and Himesh Patel at the New York premiere of \u2018Enola Holmes 3\u2019 this week (Getty)<\/p>\n