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Claire Shirley

Conan Doyle Estate files lawsuit against Netflix’s ‘Enola Holmes’

Netflix Original “Enola Holmes” stars Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock Holmes’ brilliant younger sister. In the film, Sherlock is portrayed as kind and understanding towards his sister. However, the Conan Doyle Estate was not happy about this expression of the character.


After Enola wakes to find her mother has vanished, her two older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, return home after many years. Because Enola is 16 and still a minor, she becomes the ward of Mycroft, who attempts to send her to a finishing school for ladies in disapproval of the way her mother raised her. In the movie, Sherlock becomes very attached to Enola and is fascinated by her cleverness.


The Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against the film, claiming copyright infringement and trademark violations, as the master detective demonstrates emotions of love and sensitivity in only ten Sherlock stories, as he appears colder in the stories available to the public domain. The Conan Doyle Estate owns the copyright in which Sherlock shows those emotions.

In an interview with GQ, Sherlock actor Henry Cavill responded to the lawsuit. “Honestly, I don’t have a take on it,” said Cavill. “It’s a character from a page which we worked out from the screenplay. The legal stuff is above my pay grade… nothing surprises me anymore.”


The lawsuit is yet to be fully resolved, but fans predict that it will eventually blow over, as it is, according to Den of Geek, a “nonsense lawsuit.” Sherlock did indeed have emotions during the other stories, just perhaps not as obvious and strong.


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