Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate sues Netflix!

Well everyone I have an interesting bit of news for you all, especially if you’re fans of the “Sherlock Holmes,” books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and of the book series Enola Holmes by Nancy Springer. Netflix has the movie version of Enola Holmes coming on Netflix in September 2020. It was originally supposed to come out into the theaters but due to the Corona Virus, Netflix got the rights to it. Milly Bobby Brown from Stranger Things is playing the main character of Enola, Henry Cavill is playing Sherlock Holmes a very handsome one at that. Other big actors such as Helena Bonham Carter, Fiona Shaw (she played Harry Potters Aunt Petunia), and Sam Claflin will be in the movie too. However here is where we unfortunately get to the lawsuit. Although Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is no longer alive, his estate is going after Netflix. The estate of the deceased author believes that the show is making Sherlock Holmes totally out of character. Doyle’s estate is also going after Nancy Springer too. According to my source The Verge,

 The complaint alleges that in the public domain stories, Holmes is famously “aloof and unemotional.” Then, that changed because of his creator’s life experiences:

After the stories that are now in the public domain, and before the Copyrighted Stories, the Great War happened. In World War I Conan Doyle lost his eldest son, Arthur Alleyne Kingsley. Four months later he lost his brother, Brigadier-general Innes Doyle. When Conan Doyle came back to Holmes in the Copyrighted Stories between 1923 and 1927, it was no longer enough that the Holmes character was the most brilliant rational and analytical mind. Holmes needed to be human. The character needed to develop human connection and empathy.

Conan Doyle made the surprising artistic decision to have his most famous character—known around the world as a brain without a heart—develop into a character with a heart. Holmes became warmer. He became capable of friendship. He could express emotion. He began to respect women.

 It sounds like a huge mess I must say. Netflix needs to be careful, they have faced controversy before and this isn’t the first time someone wanted to have a lawsuit against them. The dark version of Sabrina on Netflix faced backlash from Christians and Satanists and eventually the Satanists issued a lawsuit against Netflix for the inaccurate portrayal. I feel like Netflix would have more of a case if they went after Nancy Springer who wrote Enola Holmes if she didn’t get the estates permission to write that Sherlock had a sister. As far as the Sherlocks personality, Sherlock changed over time as stated above. We as humans are supposed to change and grow, and the same goes for fictional characters.  I don’t think the estate has much of a case if they’re only going after the personality change because Sherlocks personality did change slowly overtime throughout the books.  Doyle realized that the character of Sherlock needed to be more human he couldn’t just be a brilliant, rational and analytical man. Sherlock needed to be a human who had emotions. I will update everyone when I find out more info. As always happy reading!