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22nd Sep 2020

Sam Claflin on Enola Holmes, his favourite Sherlock, and the next season of Peaky Blinders

Rory Cashin

‘I have seen scripts for the next season of Peaky Blinders. I am very excited to get back into that world.’

Sam Claflin has had an incredible career, having already been a part of huge blockbusters such as Pirates Of The Caribbean, Snow White & The Huntsmen, The Hunger Games, and Charlie’s Angels, as well as critically acclaimed smaller movies such as Me Before You, The Nightingale, and The Riot Club. And that is all without mentioning his brilliant portrayal of Oswald Mosley in the most recent season of Peaky Blinders.

Adding to that impressive CV is his role in new Netflix mystery Enola Holmes (our review right here), in which he and his brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) go searching for their missing sister Enola (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown), who is an impressive detective in her own right.

We were lucky enough to have a nice long chat with the actor in the lead-up to Enola Holmes’ release on the streaming service, and you can check out some of the highlights below.

On his influences for playing this new version of Mycroft Holmes:

“In truth, I kind of focused on our particular story. I didn’t bog myself down with analysis previous interpretations of the part. I just sort of went with what was already written down on the page, and in all honesty, I think a lot of it came down to the costume and the hair and make-up people who kind of gave that stiff and snotty and stuffy interpretation, it just sort of came out.”

On picking his favourite Sherlock Holmes (out of Robert Downey Jnr. and Benedict Cumberbatch):

“Out of those two? They’re so different! It is hard to say, really. I love a bit of RDJ generally, but Benedict for me – purely because he went to my drama school – and I’ve got to represent LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) by saying Benedict!”

On working with Millie Bobby Brown:

“In many ways, I was actually being schooled! She has got bundles of experience in the industry already, and she’s just so well accomplished, and she holds herself so well. She’s so professional, so focused, and so switched on, it is actually quite amazing to witness.”

On what to expect from the next season of Peaky Blinders:

“As someone who thoroughly enjoyed my part in the last season, it is definitely something that has got me very, very excited to get involved with again. I have seen scripts, and I don’t want to obviously divulge too much information, but it is a very exciting prospect to be involved with again. Who knows when that will be? Obviously at the moment everything is so uncertain; we take two steps forward and three steps back. It is hard to know exactly when that will be. But just knowing that world, and knowing those characters, and knowing what the future holds in the real history of Britain and the politics that Oswald himself was involved in, I am very excited by the prospect of where that goes.”

On his Peaky Blinders co-star, Irish actor Emmett J. Scanlan:

“I met him, not actually filming any of the Peaky Blinders, but since then. I have so much time for him, what a guy, and what an amazing actor! I’ve been saying to him, I’ve been watching him since he was in Hollyoaks, saying ‘This guy is amazing’. So seeing where he has gone since, and everything he’s touching – yeah, it is amazing.”

On his next project, Daisy Jones & The Six:

“It is such a rich story and such an amazing time in music history that we will have the opportunity to explore. It is set in the 70s, this band made of men and women, and the kind of infidelity and the affairs and the arguments, the love, the hate. It is everything you want in a TV drama, really. And more, there’s music!”

You can listen to the interview with Sam in full right here:

Meanwhile, Enola Holmes will arrive on Netflix from Wednesday September 23, and you can check out the trailer for it right here: