Netflix is on an acquisition roll. It’s just bought the rights, excluding China, to “Enola Holmes,” starring Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”).
The film is based on Nancy Springer’s Edgar Award-nominated six-book series, “The Enola Holmes Mysteries.” Deadline suggests it may kick off a franchise.
The story concerns the rebel teen sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Enola is also a gifted sleuth, who often outsmarts her brainy siblings.
As Netflix describes it: “When her mother mysteriously disappears on her 16th birthday, Enola seeks help from her older brothers. But soon realizing they’re less interested in solving the case than in packing her off to finishing school, Enola does the only thing a smart, resourceful and fearless young 1880s woman can do … she runs away to London to find her. Meeting a cast of memorable characters along the way, Enola’s caught in the middle of a conspiracy that could alter the course of political history.”
The drama will be directed by Harry Bradbeer (“Fleabag,” “Killing Eve”) and adapted by Tony winner Jack Thorne, who wrote the Broadway hit “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
The cast also includes Sam Claflin, Adeel Akhtar, Fiona Shaw, Frances de la Tour, Louis Partridge, Burn Gorman, Susan Wokoma, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter.
The “Enola Holmes” books began in 2006, with “The Case of the Missing Marquess.” The first and fifth books in the series were nominated for Edgar Awards in 2007 and 2010, respectively.
Separately, Netflix paid $20 million for the world rights to “The Starling,” starring Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline and directed by Ted Melfi. McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Chris O’Dowd (“Get Shorty”) play a married couple coping with a tragedy. He opts to try recovery, while she heals in her garden — only to be constantly attacked by a starling. Kevin Kline plays the man who helps her put her life in perspective.
Photo credit: Netflix