Ranking the Enola Holmes Trilogy: A Comprehensive Review

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The “Enola Holmes” film series stands out as one of Millie Bobby Brown’s most prominent ventures outside of her breakout role in “Stranger Things.” In this hit series, Brown takes on the role of the adventurous younger sibling of Sherlock Holmes, played by Henry Cavill, across three intriguing Netflix movies. Each installment has generally been met with favorable reviews and has captured the attention of audiences worldwide.

With her iconic portrayal of Eleven in “Stranger Things” now concluded, Millie Bobby Brown is carving out new paths in her career. The future of her role in the “Enola Holmes” saga remains uncertain, but regardless, the trio of films she has contributed to are a delightful testament to her talents. As we delve into the mystery of which film stands above the rest, it’s worth examining their standings based on Rotten Tomatoes scores to see how they stack up against each other.

“Enola Holmes 3” presents a pivotal chapter in Millie Bobby Brown’s filmography. The plot follows Enola as she ties the knot with Tewkesbury, played by Louis Partridge, an affair that began romantically in the second movie. This development is complicated by Sherlock Holmes’ apprehensions about how marriage might impact her detective instincts. Fans also witness the return of Professor Moriarty, the series’ arch-nemesis, once again brought to life by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, following their appearance in “Enola Holmes 2.”

Essentially, “Enola Holmes 3” delves into themes of maturity and self-discovery, mirroring Brown’s own transition post-“Stranger Things.” While her performance shines through, and the film explores some captivating ideas, it has not resonated as well with critics or audiences. This is evident from its Rotten Tomatoes rating of 68% and a rather lukewarm audience score of 50%, making it the series’ least favored installment to date.

This hasn’t stopped “Enola Holmes 3” from being popular, though. The movie pulled in an impressive 20.7 million views in just five days after its premiere on July 1, 2026. This suggests that despite its comparatively meager critical approval, “Enola Holmes 3” is far from a failure, and there may very well be further installments to the story.

“Enola Holmes” is the movie that started it all. As such, it has a lot of setting up to do, especially with the amount of tinkering that it does with the Sherlock Holmes mythology. Here, Enola begins as a teenager who plays a distant third fiddle to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (Sam Claflin), with the latter acting as his guardian in their mother Eudoria’s (Helena Bonham Carter) absence. The movie centers around Eudoria’s disappearance and a plot to assassinate Tewksbury, and features a number of other interesting characters who play a role in the proceedings.

Based on Nancy Springer’s novel “The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery,” the film is a fun adventure thriller with plenty of small details that you missed. it’s easy to forget just how excellently the first “Enola Holmes” went down for both critics and audiences. It’s no mean feat for a YA-tinted mystery film to get a 91% Tomatometer rating and 71% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that’s just what the inherently likable movie pulled off. Thanks to a combination of clever plotting, interesting worldbuilding, and great performances, “Enola Holmes” is one of the better Netflix offerings in its genre — and Millie Bobby Brown is the perfect choice to play Enola. 

“Enola Holmes 2” has no need to tell origin stories, nor does it have to do any worldbuilding. It also benefits from bringing in the most famous villain in the franchise — Professor Moriarty, of course. 

Here, Enola is operating her own struggling detective agency while interacting with her far more famous brother Sherlock. She’s immediately drawn into a complex plot that features some of the Victorian London’s most iconic locations from steamy factories to the Whitechapel neighborhood. During this mission, she begins a love affair with Tewkesbury, solves an unholy amount of clever twists, takes a few great stabs at greedy capitalism, and even introduces Sherlock to his iconic sidekick Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel).

In other words, “Enola Holmes 2” is free to fire on all cylinders and uses this opportunity to do precisely that. With reliably compelling performances from all involved and great production values, the film’s 93% Tomatometer rating and 78% Popcornmeter score speak volumes of its sheer quality. Adventure mysteries don’t get much better than this, and “Enola Holmes” movies certainly don’t.