Henry Cavill has spent a huge chunk of his career donning costumes: the Man of Steel, Geralt of Rivia, Duke of Suffolk. And now, viewers will remember him again when he returned as Sherlock in Enola Holmes 2, another iconic role that had him wear, this time a double-breasted suit and wool coat, sans the deerstalker hat and pipe.

We catch up with Henry a day after he announced his return to Superman (weeks after this was published, he revealed that he will no longer take on the role), and in the middle of the night, 1AM in Manila and 5PM in London, we chatted with him over reprising his role in Enola Holmes 2.

What you have to understand about Enola Holmes is how much everyone loves the concept. All of it. Feminist without being overbearing, entertaining without the fluff, not fixated on love yet still able to bring in a subplot or two: Everything about it is groundbreaking. And bringing in a rebranded Sherlock Holmes who tries to deny his lack of emotion but effortlessly creates tender, sibling moments with his sister, Enola, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown.

In Enola Holmes 2, she is preoccupied with setting up her own detective agency, following in the footsteps of her brother. She realizes thought that it’s not as easy as it seems.

She is both young and female. She finds herself taking on an unlikely client: a matchgirl looking for her missing sister. This turns out to be a much bigger case than she thought, as she finds herself wrongfully accused in jail, and following clues in factories, music halls, the works. She even comes across her dandy love interest, Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), whose involvement and connections might just help close the case.

Having Sherlock figure prominently gives substantial insight into Enola and her place in the world. Their paths, though similar (parentage, intellect, intuition, and even values), could not have been any more different. She is a young woman, after all, struggling to make her mark in Victorian London.

“She approached things differently,” explains Henry, “she is a bit more bullish in her approach. It’s in relation to her being a young woman in Victorian times. She’s also raised by her mother who is contradictory to the tradition of the times.”

While Enola is more free-spirited and carefree, Sherlock, by virtue of his age and disposition, is a bit more circumspect.

“She approached it full force, whereas Sherlock has a bit more of a reserved nature,” he says.

Entrepreneurship for young women

Another lens from which you can view Enola Holmes is through that of female-led entrepreneurship. After all, she established her own agency, albeit with mixed results. I had to ask Henry about his thoughts on this, specifically if he felt that there were instances wherein Enola wasn’t quite practical about how she ran her business, versus, say how Sherlock ran his 221B Baker Street headquarters.

“Oh goodness me,” Henry exclaims, “I don’t think it’s really down to the practicality of how she ran her business. I think it was the fact that she was very young, and people were going to her because of the Holmes name. She was out to prove herself as a competent detective, whereas people knew of her name Holmes, from Sherlock first.”

Much of the chemistry between this brother and sister tandem translated from offscreen to onscreen, with Henry having only good things to say about his co-star.

“It was fantastic working with Millie. I always enjoy working with her. She’s got such a bombastic, enthusiastic energy that she brings on set. We have a big-brother, little-sister type of relationship, mirroring our characters on set, so I enormously enjoyed it,” he says.

Brains and brawn of Sherlock

To a certain extent, there was an attempt to really veer away from the preconceived notions of what Sherlock should like. Waifish, tall and straight like a reed, with an air of conceit and the ruddy complexion of a London chap. Instead, Henry has gravitas to the character, a sheer physicality that he has displayed in Man of Steel or The Witcher.

That kind of physical presence tends to occupy the screen, zap the air in the room and be the focal point of every scene–and yet Henry was able to toe the line to delicately balance his screen presence with that of Millie. That, in itself, is a masterclass in acting.

In a big shift from most of his roles, training for this role did not require physical machinations. As for practicing his mental dexterity, this Sherlock just relied on hard work in pre-work and script-prep.

“It’s mostly on the page. And things that would change in the editing as well–from dialogue added and cut–most of that stuff is on the page and in the process rather than me doing it in a kind of mental gymnastics preparation,” he explains.

Drunk Sherlock

One thing that was quite physical though, was his rendition of “drunk Sherlock.” Enola spots him balancing on the street and he tells her: “Enola, what are you doing here? It’s not safe, there are scary people around.” Enola further inquires: “Sherlock, are you quite yourself?” sending that he’s not his usual self. It was a hilarious scene, having Enola describe Sherlock’s weight as “like a dead horse, on top of another dead horse.”

“It was a lot of fun,” shares Henry of the experience of shooting that scene. “It’s always good when you‘re trying something out and people are having a laugh as well. It was good fun!”

One of his favorite sequences was right after that one, inside Sherlocks’ apartment with Enola, where, after arguing with her, he starts dispensing his observations as to what Enola’s been busy with.

“Are you involved in something dangerous,” he asks her. And then delivers the clincher line that feels too close for comfort for Enola: “Don’t be so desperate to prove yourself, Enola.”

“A lot of fun stuff there to play with,” he says about this drunken sequence and the scene after it in his apartment. “ It was enormous fun being in Sherlock’s apartment in Baker Street, they did such an incredible job designing that, putting it all together, so there’s always something new to discover walking around on set, a lot of fun being there,” he adds.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about the Henry’s rendition of Sherlock is how he challenges the canon of sheer intellectualism, adding more emotion to his role. A more humane Sherlock so to speak. One that resonates more with a new generation of thinkers who crave more balance in character rather than the eccentricities of a genius.

As to whether this story will stand the test of time, say, in modern-day London, with mobile phones and everything, I had to ask Henry if it ever occurred to him. He gave a fitting answer.

“I suppose it could, but that would be a very different story.”

Photographs courtesy of Netflix.

Watch Enola Homes 2 on Netflix starting November 4

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