Every Enola Holmes Movie, Ranked Worst to Best

Netflix’s Enola Holmes franchise has quietly become one of the streamer’s most reliable original properties. It paired Millie Bobby Brown‘s high-energy lead performance with Henry Cavill’s surprisingly warm take on Sherlock Holmes. Built on Nancy Springer’s novels, these movies are known for their fourth-wall-breaking humor, playful mysteries, and sharp focus on female agency in Victorian England.

The third installment in the series was released on July 1, 2026, swapping foggy London streets for sunny Malta. This mystery, too, is a crowd-pleaser, so it’s the perfect moment to rank all three films from weakest to strongest.

3 An Uneven Conclusion Makes Enola Holmes 3 the Least Likable

Enola Holmes 3 picks up a few years after the second film, with Enola now working alongside Sherlock as a detective while planning her wedding to Tewkesbury in Malta. When Sherlock and his future mother-in-law are kidnapped, Enola is thrust into an investigation, following two-word clues and coming face-to-face with an old enemy.

It’s a plot with real ambition, layering in Malta’s fight for independence and a family secret involving the Tewkesbury lineage. But the execution doesn’t quite land with the same confidence as before. Director Philip Barantini, stepping in for Harry Bradbeer, keeps the pacing brisk but doesn’t push the visual identity forward. The shift away from London also strips the film of some of its predecessors’ distinctive charm.

The mystery itself also plays it safer than expected, with the movie’s ending following a fairly predictable path once the pieces start falling into place. Brown, Cavill, Louis Partridge, and Helena Bonham Carter remain likable, and Himesh Patel gets more room to shine as Watson.

2 Enola Holmes Was a Charming Beginning to the Franchise

Millie Bobby Brown as Enola in Enola Holmes | Credits: Netflix

The original Enola Holmes remains a delight precisely because it didn’t need to prove anything yet. Following her stint as Eleven in Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown announced herself as a bona fide movie star. She was perfectly comfortable with breaking the fourth wall with self-deprecating asides and handling the movie’s mystery, comedy, and coming-of-age drama.

Enola’s mother vanishes, leaving cryptic clues behind, and Enola sets off to find her while dodging two overbearing older brothers. During her mission, she stumbles into a separate conspiracy involving a runaway young lord. What made the film work was its tone.

Harry Bradbeer brought the infectious energy of Fleabag to this movie. He also placed a genuine argument underneath the adventure, about female independence in a society actively working against it. The film ran a little long and stumbled into some tonal whiplash with an unexpectedly violent turn in the second half. Nevertheless, it succeeded in exactly the way a franchise-starter should.

1 The Franchise Best, Enola Holmes 2, Didn’t Even Adapt the Books

Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes 2 | Credits: Netflix

Somewhat unusually, the film that gets the most mileage out of Nancy Springer’s world isn’t a direct adaptation of one of her novels. Enola Holmes 2 invents its own case for Enola, following her as she opens a struggling detective agency and takes on a missing-persons investigation.

The case eventually spirals into match-factory corruption (taking inspiration from the real-life matchgirls’ strike) and government conspiracy. The original approach paved the way for more detailed character work, while giving us the tightest and most confident movie in the trilogy.

The sequel benefits from a cast that’s fully settled into its roles. Brown brings even sharper wit and comic timing to Enola. Her dynamic with Cavill’s Sherlock, who’s more openly supportive of his sister here even as their goals clash, gives the film its emotional backbone. With better plotting, sharper humor, and a greater sense of scale, this movie is easily the franchise at its peak.

What is your ranking of all the movies in the franchise? Which one was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Enola Holmes movies are now streaming on Netflix.