Before donning Superman’s cape once more, Henry Cavill reprised a different, but also well-known role with quite the fandom — Sherlock Holmes.
In Netflix’s “Enola Holmes 2,” Cavill portrays Sherlock, but as seen through the lens of his younger sister Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), who stars in the sequel. Which means that despite that post-credits scene, a Henry Cavill Sherlock movie isn’t likely in the cards.
Director Harry Bradbeer discussed how the post-credits introduction of Watson presents a foil for Sherlock, though Enola foils her brother in her own way as well. While Enola finds love with Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) after solving her case, the theme of Sherlock’s loneliness remains, and she worries for her brother.
“I think ‘How is there hope for him?’ would be answered in any future movies were they to happen,” Cavill said of a potential sequel. “There’s always whisperings of these sort of things, but nothing is ever official until you enter the first day of shooting, and even then until you finish shooting and even then it has to come out. Right now that’s a that’s all always brings but I don’t know of anything official just yet.
And for those curious about a certain canon character’s debut to the franchise, Cavill asserts that Watson will not displace Enola in Sherlock’s life.
“This universe is very much Enola’s, so she’ll always be involved,” Cavill said. “I think it’s important to make that connection between the two characters.”
As for getting into character for Sherlock, Cavill credits the setting of the detective’s flat on Baker Street with helping immerse him into the canon.
“I enjoyed enormously being in Baker Street. The work the production team did there was extraordinary. It was such a beautifully crafted set, magnificent,” Cavill said. “I didn’t like to leave that set. I just like to sit in it and enjoy it and feel as much as Sherlock as I possibly could.”
Cavill echoed Bradbeer’s point of Enola coloring Sherlock’s life with her influence as his younger sister. It is Enola that introduces Watson to Sherlock, after all, in the post-credits scene.
“It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to make it my own. I think living within the Enola universe, in all the literature and all the other mediums, he doesn’t have an Enola. He has a Watson, but that’s very different from having an Enola,” Cavill said. “There’s a strong emotional connection to Enola there, there’s a similarity in how they’re raised. It allows for a slightly different viewpoint. When it comes to Enola, there’s always this emotionality with the connection, which is otherwise unique to the Enola universe.”
Though the siblings were raised under the same roof by Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter), Sherlock mainly operates by deductive reasoning, while Enola uses inductive reasoning to pull at loose threads. The two balance each other out with their complementary thinking patterns as well as approaches to emotion.
“I think Enola has a lot to teach Sherlock, certainly about the world he’s living in, even though he may have an awareness of the lack of fairness of the world, especially when it comes to women living in the world, he is not even close to understanding what it’s like,” Cavill said. “He has a lot to learn from Enola in that especially going from the first movie into the second, but in the second, he’s taught a lesson of companionship by Enola. Not being able to rely just on himself, that it’s okay to have someone else in his life who he can turn to. Certainly in the second movie, Enola is the one helping guide Sherlock.”
“Enola Holmes 2” is now streaming on Netflix.
