This article contains spoilers for Enola Holmes 2.Enola Holmes 2 introduces the franchise's version of Dr. John Watson but changes his first meeting with Sherlock Holmes. Enola Holmes and its sequel take place during Sherlock's rise to fame as a private detective in the 1880s. Sherlock lives at 221B Baker Street but does not yet have his flatmate and biographer, Dr. Watson. Enola Holmes 2 takes place in 1885 — although it's inspired by the 1888 matchstick girls' strike — and shows how both Sherlock and Enola must learn to accept companionship.
After seeing what a mess his home is, Enola tells her brother Sherlock to get a flatmate, but he brushes this off. During the Enola Holmes 2 post-credits scene, Dr. John Watson shows up at 221B when Sherlock is expecting his sister. Watson says that a "young lady" sent him as a potential flatmate, and Sherlock begrudgingly lets him in. In Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, the detective and his faithful companion are said to first meet at St. Bart's Hospital in 1881. That is a very different setting than the one in Enola Holmes 2, creating an alternate start to the friendship between Holmes and Watson.
Who Introduced Holmes & Watson In A Study in Scarlet?
Enola doesn't exist in the original Sherlock Holmes stories, so the detective and doctor are instead introduced by Stamford, an old colleague of Watson's who works at St. Bart's Hospital. At the beginning of A Study in Scarlet, Stamford runs into Watson, who has just returned from the Second Anglo-Afghan War and is running out of money. Both Watson and Sherlock happen to be in need of a flatmate, and Stamford suggests the latter to the former. Though Stamford introduces the duo, kick-starting one of the most famous friendships in literature, the character doesn't appear in the rest of the original Sherlock Holmes canon, so it makes sense that Enola Holmes 2 would use its main character to facilitate the first meeting instead.
How Enola Holmes 2 Improves Sherlock & Watson's First Meeting
In addition to having Enola introduce Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson instead of Stamford, the sequel improves on the duo's first meeting in other ways. Rather than Watson meeting Sherlock while he's celebrating a successful hemoglobin experiment and going on about criminal history, Enola Holmes 2 has the doctor be the one to surprise the detective. This is an unusual occurrence for Sherlock, setting up their odd but important friendship.
It's not yet clear where Watson is in his life at the end of Enola Holmes 2. The war ended in 1880, but the movie also changed the date of the matchstick girls' strike, so it could push the war further ahead to align better with its story. If not, then Watson has been home from the war for five years, so not in the initial recovery period of his injury and PTSD. Sherlock Holmes, on the other hand, is well out of school and rocketing into fame during Enola Holmes 2. He's struggling in his own ways: focusing on cases, delving into alcohol, and lacking friends.
It looks like any future Enola Holmes movies will touch more on how much Sherlock needs Watson rather than the other way around. This is in line with the franchise's focus on the Holmes family. It will also be interesting to see how their friendship differs considering it's because of Watson's writings that Sherlock becomes famous in the original stories. In Enola Holmes 2, Sherlock is already well-known in England. If there is an Enola Holmes 3, there is plenty of room to explore these twists on the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson while staying true to Doyle's original works.