Netflix's Enola Holmes 2, the sequel to the 2020 film starring Millie Bobby Brown as the titular sister to Henry Cavill's Sherlock Holmes, will be streaming on November 4, and looking up and down the cast will reveal a glaring absence from the original film. Sam Claflin, who played the duo's oldest sibling Mycroft in the original film, did not make a return in the newly released follow-up with many fans wondering why. Collider's own Steven Weintraub had the chance to sit down with the film's director Harry Bradbeer and asked about his exclusion. While Claflin was unable to appear in this film, fans of the actor and the character will be happy to hear that he has an open invitation to return in the future.
The question was posed to Bradbeer if the lack of Mycroft was a creative decision to focus more on the relationship between Sherlock and Enola or if it was a scheduling conflict with Claflin. He confirmed that it was the latter which then fed into the former, with the decision being made to focus on the two siblings when it became clear that Claflin would be unable to return.
"Well, it was Sam's schedule that became very clear, so Sam was not going to be in it... We were very sorry that Sam couldn't be in this one. If there was a future one we would love to have him back. But that was just the practicalities of life. That then meant though that we had to then concentrate on Sherlock, which has some advantages in the sense and that it becomes a sharp pencil if you like. You're just having to work with that particular relationship. It had to be about Sherlock and Enola and coming together. So I guess there is some blessings in having less pieces because you can do more with what you have."
He also made sure to put out the invite to Claflin to return in future entries in the series if possible, saying that the team "absolutely love him, and we would love to have him again.
Claflin's Out, But Who's Still In?
While Claflin's Mycroft wasn't able to make an appearance in the new film, the cast will include Helena Bonham Carter as the eccentric matriarch of the family, Eudoria Holmes, as well as Adeel Akhtar as Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade. Additional cast members also include Louis Partridge, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, David Thewlis, Hannah Dodd, Serrana Su-Ling Bliss, Abbie Hern, and Gabriel Tierney. Bradbeer directed the film from a screenplay penned by Jack Thorne and based on the young adult fiction series of the same name by Nancy Springer.
Enola Holmes 2 is set to premiere on Netflix on November 4 and while you wait check out Arezou Amin's review of the film on Collider here. You can stream the first film in the series on Netflix right now. Check out the trailer for the sequel below: