Harry Bradbeer returns to direct Enola Holmes 2 following 2020's Enola Holmes. The titular character played by Millie Bobby Brown takes on her second case and first as a detective-for-hire. Following in the footsteps of her famous older brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill), Enola contributes her sleuthing talents to a mystery involving missing girls from a matchstick factory, evoking the real-life matchgirls' strike of 1888 that took place in London.
Enola Holmes 2 expands the development of Enola, Sherlock, and many others while offering a thrilling plot line with various twists. Netflix's Enola Holmes films are based on author Nancy Springer's book series titled The Enola Holmes Mysteries. Enola Holmes 2 also stars Louis Partridge, Helena Bonham Carter, David Thewlis, Susan Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Bradbeer discussed the history behind Enola Holmes 2's story, the film's approach to developing characters, and the process of creating realistic Victorian-era sets.
Harry Bradbeer on Enola Holmes 2
Screen Rant: The story told in Enola Holmes 2 is based on the matchgirls’ strike of 1888. What about this event makes it a fitting backdrop for the sequel?
Harry Bradbeer: Well, the first one had a historical event at the heart of it too. It was the Great Reform Act. It was about the vote and the suffrage in our country at that time. This was a departure and an advance on Enola's journey toward suffrage, empowerment, and spreading the word of women's rights. In this case, though, it's on an industrial basis, and it was far more dangerous and had far more lives at stake.
We were looking to tell a story that could run through and inspire the second film, and we were looking for something that involved sisterhood. I wanted to bring Enola together with women and girls of her own age, but of a very different background. The moment we found this historical event, we knew this had to be the basis of it. It was a way to tell a story of unity and protest, and it's an origin story; it's the very first strike by women for women.
What were your goals and ideas for building on the characters from the first film in this sequel?
Harry Bradbeer: Enola was going to have to grow up, and she was going to have to learn to stand on her own two feet as a detective, as her own right, so we set her that goal. Sherlock, we wanted him and his sister to solve a case together and that that case would have to be really complex — more complex than the simple things Sherlock had to deal with in the first film — so we had to raise that stake.
We also had to find more adventure in the film. We thought that the mother could involve in some kind of chase, and that's how the carriage chase evolved. So, I guess we were turning up the dial in a lot of areas, but it always had to be led by the development of Enola's character because they're the films of the progress and the stages of a young woman's life.
Like in the first Enola Holmes movie, the sequel features such elaborate set designs. What is the process like of creating a world in which everything from costumes to costumes represents the era in which the story’s set?
Harry Bradbeer: It's a real challenge when you're shooting in London. An older city is always the toughest thing to reproduce, especially in England and London because we don't have much of that left because it was bombed by Hitler in the Second World War. So, we had to look outside London for a lot of those locations — Hull, Kent, and other places — to find streets that could work as London in that time. That was the tough thing. The fun thing was the design that went into those spaces and the way the costume designer Consolata (Boyle) worked so closely with Michael Carlin, the production designer. I really encourage dialogue between departments probably more than most directors, and I get people to make friends and work with each other. There's no competition; we're all working toward the same end.
That's where one of the most delightful things I can feel when I watch the film. The first big night scene when Enola goes to follow Mae (Abbie Hern) down the street, you'll see a gas lamp in the foreground and beyond, a street full of mist, traffic, and people in different costumes. One costume — Mae's — stands out, and she's lit perfectly. Giles (Nuttgens), the DOP, the designer, the costume designer — everything was worked out, and it was designed like a painting. That was all their work; they did that, they worked it out together. Great collaboration. The theme of collaboration is in the practice and the execution, as well as the story of the film.
About Enola Holmes 2
Fresh off the triumph of solving her first case, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) follows in the footsteps of her famous brother, Sherlock (Henry Cavill), and opens her own agency - only to find that life as a female detective-for-hire isn’t as easy as it seems. Resigned to accepting the cold realities of adulthood, she is about to close shop when a penniless matchstick girl offers Enola her first official job: to find her missing sister. But this case proves to be far more puzzling than expected, as Enola is thrown into a dangerous new world - from London’s sinister factories and colorful music halls, to the highest echelons of society and 221B Baker Street itself. As the sparks of a deadly conspiracy ignite, Enola must call upon the help of friends - and Sherlock himself - to unravel her mystery. The game, it seems, has found its feet again!
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Enola Holmes 2 is available to stream globally on Netflix beginning November 4.