Henry Cavill’s Sherlock Holmes returns in with a couple of surprises, but one of those shows that Benedict Cumberbatch’s beats him in one big way. Created by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes is one of the most beloved and popular characters in literature, and as such, he has been adapted to all types of media for decades. Many of these have made big changes to the character and his stories to fit new settings and formats, and others have even changed canon. Falling into the latter category is Nancy Springer’s book series, which gave the Great Detective a younger sister who is also a detective.
Enola Holmes made the jump to film in 2020 thanks to , and its success made way for a sequel, simply titled . The movie follows as she helps a matchstick girl find her sister, but Sherlock discovers that his and her case are connected, and so the Holmes siblings join forces. The mastermind behind everything turned out to be Moriarty (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), and while it was a fun surprise for Sherlock Holmes fans, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock definitely beats Cavill’s version when it comes to its Moriarty reveal.
The movies are set in the 1880s, which fits with the time setting of the source material, but the BBC’s brought the detective and company to the modern world, which obviously required major changes. to modern-day London, and Moriarty is one of the characters who were more fleshed out in the series, and he was also truly terrifying. Sherlock’s Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) was a “consulting criminal” responsible for the crimes in the first three episodes of season 1, serving as either sponsor, informant, or mastermind.
Moriarty was obsessed with Sherlock, and he possessed a genius-level intellect, which made him an interesting but threatening rival, and he seemed to be motivated by boredom rather than money or power.
Moriarty was extremely manipulative, and he managed to convince the general populace that he was forced by Sherlock into playing Jim Moriarty, and he was just an actor named Richard Brook. He met Sherlock under the disguise of Jim, Molly’s boyfriend who Sherlock deduced was gay, but the detective didn’t see through his act. Moriarty revealed himself in season 1’s finale, where he threatened to kill John and teased Sherlock, showing
and how much he enjoyed creating chaos.
Now, ’ version of Moriarty has only appeared once, and she was also hiding in plain sight, as she was posing as Lord McIntyre’s secretary, Mira Troy. Moriarty also had people working for her so she wouldn’t get her hands dirty, and it wasn’t until the very end when Sherlock and Enola deduced her identity. Although showed the extent of Moriarty’s plans and actions, not much is known about her, and she didn’t instill fear as Sherlock’s Moriarty did.
Moriarty was arrested at , but as she’s the biggest criminal mastermind around, she obviously wasn’t going to stay in prison for long. It was later revealed that Moriarty escaped, though details about it weren’t revealed, so if is to happen, Moriarty will surely return. This makes way for some interesting storylines for both Sherlock and Enola Holmes, but now that she knows both siblings, the biggest question is whether she will be Sherlock or Enola’s enemy.
