Enola Holmes Ending Explained And What Could Be Next If It Gets A Sequel

Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes
(Image credit: (Netflix))

Enola Holmes is a delightfully refreshing take on the Sherlock Holmes title, isn’t it? Stranger ThingsMillie Bobby Brown stars as the sister of the famed detective along with producing what has quickly become a popular title on Netflix. Between the fourth-wall breaking Phoebe Waller-Bridge famously did on Fleabag, clever cipher decoding with the secret flower language Enola and her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) use and Henry Cavill’s perfect curls, there’s a lot to love about the movie. But did you catch everything that went down at the end? It’s not exactly Elementary, my dear.

There’s a lot that happened at the end of Enola Holmes before the credits roll and it's too much fun to skip discussing! Plus, we’ll get into the clues that have us believing this won’t be the last time Millie Bobby Brown’s headstrong detective wink our way on our televisions. Obviously, spoilers ahead! Let’s get into it:

Enola Holmes and Lord Tewkesbury, played by Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge

(Image credit: (Netflix))

What Happens At The End Of Enola Holmes

Enola Holmes is centrally about the disappearance of her mother, Eudoria, which leads Enola to reconnect with her estranged brothers Sherlock and Mycroft and solve her first case. While Sherlock is following his own trail after Eudoria on his own, Enola follows a series of ciphers to find her. In the process, Enola gets in the middle of a political controversy when she meets Louis Partridge’s Tewkesbury. As the two teens meet, Lord Tewkesbury begins being hunted by a mysterious assassin, Burn Gorman’s Linthorn.

Beginning with Tewkesbury’s hitman problem, the pair confront Linthorn, who Enola successfully takes down. But then, out of the shadows comes the master of the plot, his grandmother, who catches them off guard and shoots him. Thankfully, Tewkesbury thought on his feet and placed a metal breast plate underneath his clothing moments before the shot was fired. While Enola is fighting Linthorn, there’s a quick shot of Tewkesbury eyeing the metal armor, which he must subsequently have attached to himself.

As surprising as it may be for his grandmother to be behind the hit on his head, throughout Enola Holmes, Lady Tewkesbury leaves a few clues that she is not interested in the young man having a voice in the upcoming Reform Bill he’s expected to vote on. She’s a traditionalist and she wanted to do everything in her power to stop him from contributing to this vital change for a more progressive English society. At the same time, Enola has followed the ciphers straight to her mother, who as she finds out, her involvement in England’s social reform (particularly for Women’s Suffrage) is the reason for her disappearance. Eudoria did not want to involve Enola in her dangerous plans and never meant for her to follow the trail she left.

Millie Bobby Brown and Helena Bonham Carter in Enola Holmes

(Image credit: (Netflix))

How The Case Of Missing Marquess Is Solved

Diving deeper into the reveals regarding Eudoria, what Enola finds in a number of the ciphers are secret locations for her mother’s suffrage group to meet and specifically for Limehouse Lane, the holding place for crates of explosives and other materials they plan to use to “make some noise” about their cause for equity. As seen in their reunion at the end of the film, Eudoria did not intend to involve her daughter in her seemingly destructive plan to demand justice. The money Enola found earlier in the film was likely a gift to her, rather than a call for help and some of the early ciphers were simply ways for Eudoria to communicate to Enola that she was OK.

Interestingly enough for Enola Holmes, it's she who solves both cases just before him, leaving Sherlock in absolute shock. Perhaps you could say this time it was due to the pair sharing a special cipher language together, but she also was on the ground figuring out the Lord’s hit as well. This catches the attention of Sherlock, who leaves Enola a cipher from him to solve. Sherlock would like to mentor her, but at the meeting spot Enola leaves him a pinecone, referencing back to a conversation the two had about forging one’s own path. It serves as a message to Sherlock that Enola wishes to go her own way and when he places it back on the ledge it symbolizes his blessing to do so.

At the very end of Enola Holmes, our protagonist announces to us that she has decided to be a detective in her own right, implementing her knowledge of ciphers and her intentions to be a “finder of lost souls.” She ends by saying the future is her own and “up to us,” making it more obvious that Enola is seeking to set herself apart from the classic Holmes story.

Enola, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes in Netflix film

(Image credit: (Netflix))

What’s Next For Enola Holmes Based On The Books

So Enola Holmes serves as a kind of origin story for the sister of Sherlock and you’re surely curious if there’s going to be more! For now, director Harry Bradbeer recently said this:

There’s discussion. I can’t really say. It’d be crazy of me to say. I think we would love it if it would happen.

At the time of this article’s writing, Enola’s only been on the streaming service for about a week, so it makes sense that a greenlight isn’t switched on just yet. But judging by its popularity and these words from Bradbeer, we wouldn’t at all be surprised if Enola Holmes became a franchise. Plus, the Nancy Springer novels the story is based on includes six books total. So the stories are already out there and ready to be adapted!

Enola Holmes does adapt the first book in the series as well, titled The Case of the Missing Marquess. The 2008 second book is called The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, which follows Enola hiding from Sherlock in between looking for another missing woman, Lady Cecily. The lady has mysteriously disappeared and left beautiful charcoal drawings behind. It certainly sounds like Enola Holmes has an exciting sequel (and four more) ready to be made already.

We’ll keep you updated here on CinemaBlend on more Enola Holmes. While we wait, check out what’s coming to Netflix in October here and stay tuned here for more movies and TV news.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.